Description:
Synthetic opine mutualism for enhancement of beneficial plant-microbe interactions
Princeton Docket #23-4015
Description
Inventors in Princeton’s Department of Chemical & Biological Engineering have developed a novel plant-microbe system that improves the persistence of beneficial bacteria at the root-soil interface of crops.
Plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) are microorganisms that improve plant growth, stress tolerance, and disease resistance without the use of applied chemicals. Existing PGPR technologies are difficult to insert in existing soil microbial communities and may decline in abundance over time due to competition in the microbiome at the root-soil interface and are thus unable to persistently promote growth. The engineered system of this invention has the potential to improve colonization and persistence of beneficial bacteria in this microbiome. In this novel system, plants are engineered to secrete molecules that can be used as a nutrient source specifically by engineered bacteria. The degradation of these molecules by the engineered bacteria occurs only when both the transgenic plants and transgenic bacteria are present, reducing off-target effects. Further, the researchers are developing a biocontainment measure to meet government regulations for the use of transgenic organisms such that the engineered bacteria survive only when given an essential metabolite.
This technology can be utilized to improve agricultural yields without significant ecological impact. The system can be applied to common plants such as corn and soybean and users can mix and match different plant lines and bacteria strains as separate products.
Applications
Agriculture
Biofuel production
Seed or liquid plant treatment
Increase plant resilience to stress
Improved plant resistance to disease
Advantages
Stronger and longer-lasting plant growth-promotion
Makes use of naturally occurring opines
Biocontainment measure
Improved conformation to regulations on the deployment of transgenic organisms
Reduced off-target growth promotion
Inventor
Jonathan Conway is an Assistant Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Princeton University. His lab uses genetic engineering of non-model bacteria found at plant-microbe interfaces and chemical & biological engineering of their products to mechanistically define plant-microbe and microbe-microbe interactions. They then engineer these bacteria, plants, and their interactions to develop new technologies with applications for the bio-agriculture, bio-energy, and bio-chemical industries. Dr. Conway received a PhD in Chemical Engineering from North Carolina State University and conducted postdoctoral research at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill before starting his lab at Princeton.
Dr. Samuel Eastman is a postdoctoral scholar in the Conway lab at Princeton University. He received a PhD in Plant Pathology from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln before joining the Conway lab.
Publications
Intellectual Property and Licensing Status
Patent applications are pending. Princeton is seeking industrial collaborators for further development and commercialization of this technology.
For More Information, Contact:
Cortney Cavanaugh
New Ventures and Licensing Associate
Princeton University ccavanaugh@princeton.edu