Plant synthetic biology innovations for biofuels and bioproducts

Abstract

Plant-based biosynthesis of fuels, chemicals, and materials promotes environmental sustainability, which includes decreases in greenhouse gas emissions, water pollution, and loss of biodiversity. Advances in plant synthetic biology (synbio) should improve precision and efficacy of genetic engineering for sustainability. Applicable synbio innovations include genome editing, gene circuit design, synthetic promoter development, gene stacking technologies, and the design of environmental sensors. Moreover, recent advancements in developing spatially resolved and single-cell omics contribute to the discovery and characterization of cell-type-specific mechanisms and spatiotemporal gene regulations in distinct plant tissues for the expression of cell- and tissue-specific genes, resulting in improved bioproduction. This review highlights recent plant synbio progress and new single-cell molecular profiling towards sustainable biofuel and biomaterial production.

Keywords: biofuels and bioproducts; biomass feedstock; nanobiotechnology; single-cell omics; synthetic biology.