AGRICULTURAL SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY PLATFORMS FOR ENHANCED NUTRIENT UPTAKE UNDER ABIOTIC STRESS CONDITIONS

Abstract

Background: Abiotic stress conditions such as drought, salinity, heat, and heavy metal toxicity severely decrease crop productivity by affecting nutrient uptake, root development, and metabolic activities . Conventional breeding approaches have attempted to develop stress-tolerant crops with improved nutrient use efficiency with little success.

Objective: This study investigates the potential of agricultural synthetic biology platforms for enhancing crop nutrient uptake and stress tolerance under abiotic stress conditions.

Methods:  Comparative studies in rice, wheat and maize under controlled drought, salinity and heat stress conditions using CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing, engineered rhizobacteria and metabolic engineering strategies. We performed physiological and molecular analyses including efficiency of nutrient uptake, gene expression profiling and biomass assessment.

Findings:  CRISPR/Cas9 engineered plants showed increased nitrogen uptake (32%) and stress tolerance (29%) compared to untreated controls. Engineered microbial systems increased phosphorus up take by 35 % and metabolic engineering approaches increased root biomass accumulation by 24 %. Stress-responsive transporter genes were significantly upregulated in response to abiotic stress conditions as revealed by gene expression analysis.
Conclusion: Agricultural synthetic biology platforms significantly enhance nutrient uptake efficiency and abiotic stress tolerance, providing sustainable solutions for climate-resilient crop production and precision agriculture.