Tools and technologies for engineering self-regulated nitrogen fixation in plant-associated bacteria

合成生物学的一个主要挑战是，编程细菌执行额外的任务可能会给它们带来巨大的负担，通常会导致细胞适应性和性能下降。这对于高度复杂环境中的应用程序尤其重要（如植物根际），在那里工程菌可能处于严重的竞争劣势。在这个项目中，我们将应用合成生物学和控制工程相结合的方法来解决重组固氮菌在土壤-植物环境中的竞争劣势，最终目标是为可持续农业开发更强大的固氮接种剂。

One major challenge in synthetic biology is that programming bacteria to perform extra tasks can put a significant burden on them, typically leading to decreased cell fitness and performance. This is especially relevant for applications in highly complex environments (e.g. the plant rhizosphere), where engineered bacteria are likely to be at a severe competitive disadvantage.In this project we will apply a combined synthetic biology and control engineering approach to tackle the competitive disadvantage of recombinant nitrogen-fixing bacteria in the soil-plant environment, with the ultimate goal of developing more robust nitrogen-fixing inoculants for sustainable agriculture.