Development of a revised plant synthetic biology toolkit to advance crop improvement

Agronomy faces significant global challenges such as coping with climate change, a need for more sustainable practices, and an increasing demand for more food of higher quality due to a growing population. Addressing them will require the adoption of transformative innovations, such as the genetic technologies that underlie Plant Synthetic Biology (SynBio). Plant SynBio, through transgenesis and more recently gene editing, allows us to proactively alter plant DNA to modify their characteristics and address the aforementioned challenges. In addition, plant SynBio can enhance the production of high-value, or new compounds in plants by molecular farming. SynBio requires the generation of complex DNA constructs that comprise several transcriptional units, facilitated by the development of modular cloning toolkits and the Phytobrick Standard Syntax, a recent agreement of the plant SynBio community that systematized the sequence requirements for cloning. The aim of REPLANT is to generate a new plant SynBio toolkit based on the Phytobrick architecture that includes the latest developments in protein production and gene editing techniques. The advantages provided by the REPLANT will be demonstrated by two proof-of-concept experiments with biotechnological applications: enhancing the production of SARS-CoV2 recombinant antibodies in plant leaves, and modification of tomato plant architecture in variants of commercial interest. This toolkit, alongside its dissemination approaches will allow a faster advancement of plant SynBio, accelerating the development of improved crops to help solve the global challenges of sustainability and food security.