Background

A major challenge in the development of tools for agricultural biotechnology has been the development of genetic parts that enable precise control of transgene expression in plants. Most plant biologists employ endogenous promoters which is more difficult for controlling and tuning gene expression.

Technology Overview

Researchers at Berkeley Lab’s Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) and BASF have developed a strategy for the design of synthetic activators, synthetic repressors, and synthetic promoters, resulting in a diverse library of new synthetic transcriptional regulators.

This invention blends elements from both yeast and plants and could theoretically be applied to any transcription factor (TF) type. This novel method expands beyond the well-characterized Gal4-based synthetic systems that have been used in the past, and the