Smart Engineered Bacterial Conduits for Enhanced Crop Performance

Summary

Crops often sacrifice growth for defence under stress—a survival strategy in nature, but overly cautious in agriculture. This growth–defence trade-off limits yield, especially under moderate drought, nutrient dips, or early-stage infection. We aim to uncouple this trade-off using engineered bacteria as dynamic conduits between the plant and its environment. These bacteria will sense internal and external signals and reprogramme the plant in real time, adjusting hormone ratios to trigger defence only when needed and return swiftly to growth. Fast to engineer and test, bacteria offer a practical route to climate-resilient, high-yield crops with precise, programmable stress responses in the field.

Investigators

Ciarán Kelly, Emma Riley, Angela Sherry

Funder

ARIA

Project duration

18 months