BBSRC-NSF/BIO: Engineering an algal pyrenoid into higher plants to enhance yields

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Global food demand is projected to double by 2050. To meet this demand while minimizing ecological damage, new agricultural solutions are needed that allow production of significantly more food from the same amount of land. A major opportunity for enhancing the yields of major global crops such as rice and wheat lies in enhancing their ability to take up CO2 by photosynthesis, from which they make sugar. Here, as a key step towards enhancing crop productivity, we propose to enhance CO2 uptake of the model plant Arabidopsis by engineering it with a minimal synthetic CO2 uptake mechanism with components of the pyrenoid from green algae. Pyrenoids enhance CO2 fixation in nearly all eukaryotic algae on the planet and play a key role in the global carbon cycle. The project consists of three aims that are each targeted at engineering one of the key components of the pyrenoid into Arabidopsis, and one computational aim that will develop a quantitative model of pyrenoid function to support the other three aims. These four aims will synergize to produce a minimal, functional pyrenoid in Arabidopsis. To support our plant engineering efforts, we will perform targeted research in algae and in vitro. The project benefits from an outstanding international team with a strong track record of collaboration in advancing both our basic knowledge of the pyrenoid and our ability to engineer algal components into higher plants. The collaboration has recently yielded key insights into the principles underlying pyrenoid structure and biogenesis, and has made significant preliminary advances in expressing algal components in higher plants. The project will use synthetic biology-based approaches to contribute to our basic understanding of an algal mechanism that is of ecological and biogeochemical importance, and will advance our ability to improve plant growth using advanced engineering strategies. If we succeed in enhancing CO2 uptake in Arabidopsis, our work will lay the foundations for significant increases in global crop yields, and will contribute to meeting the 2050 global food demand with minimal ecological impacts.