Theme 4 research seeks to develop novel tools for engineering plant pathways to contribute to improvements in plant species relevant to food security.

WISB researchers are developing new types of synthetic control system in which synthetic effectors (synEffectors), derived from natural effectors of plant pathogens and mutualists, which can be targeted to bespoke pathways. In this way, pathways are re-engineered to deliver temporal and spatial control of bespoke plant responses in an orthogonal fashion, i.e. without causing trade-offs in other natural responses. This work will lead to enhanced properties that improve, for example, plant resistance to stress.

Recent Publications

Katherine Denby, Vardis Ntoukakis and Patrick Schäfer have contributed to a paper recently published in New Phytologist: Patron, N. J. et. al (2015), Standards for plant synthetic biology: a common syntax for exchange of DNA parts. New Phytologist. doi: 10.1111/nph.13532

Eichmann, Ruth and Schäfer, Patrick. (2015) Growth versus immunity : a redirection of the cell cycle?, Current opinion in plant biology, 26 . pp. 106-112. ISSN 1369-5266. doi.org/10.1016/j.pbi.2015.06.006