Background

Plant Growth-Promoting Rhizobacteria (PGPR) have tremendous potential to help increase crop yields and reduce usage of damaging chemicals, but their utility has been limited by the variability of their efficacy. Synthetic biology and Chassis-independent, Recombinase-assisted, Genome Engineering (CRAGE) offer methods to engineer PGPRs to robustly colonize the roots of diverse crop species.

Technology Overview

Researchers from the Joint Genome Institute (JGI) have developed an elite PGPR that possesses several interesting PGP traits natively and can promote crop yields.

Researchers have engineered a synthetically enhanced PGPR, P. simiae WCS417, to enhance agricultural production in a broader range of environments. Using CRAGE to engineer PGPRs that can robustly colonize the roots of diverse crop species, researchers have found a way to