Engineers have developed a strain of a common bacterial species that can feed exclusively on the three major sugars present in corn stalks. While the new multiple-sugar-consuming strain of the bacterium Pseudomonas putida is interesting in its own right, a new paper published in Nature Communications on July 29, 2026, outlines the broader implications of this project for the future of biomanufacturing.

The research team, led by bioengineers at the University of California San Diego, uncovered new insights into leveraging evolution to create novel strains of microbes that are highly adept at feeding on low-cost feedstocks like agricultural waste or even mixed plastics.

“Given the likelihood that some of the most economically viable biomanufacturing feedstocks of the future will be complex mixtures of different components, this work has far-reaching implications. With our automated culturing platform, we engineered, using evolution, a bacterial strain capable of taking up all three sugars found in corn stalks quickly and simultaneously,” said Adam Feist, a bioengineering professor at UC San Diego and the senior author on the paper.

“We found that the key was evolving strains under a specific mixture of sugars that required complete consumption of all three sugars for the strain to outcompete other variants. This produced versatile generalist strains, rather than narrow specialists.”

Generalists for messy feedstocks

Looking ahead, these versatile generalist strains of bacteria could be especially relevant for building tomorrow’s biomanufacturing economy, which makes efficient use of low-cost feedstocks that are not highly uniform—like agricultural waste and mixed plastics.

Feist is the director of the Future Biomanufacturing Center at UC San Diego. To carry out this research, the team used the automated ALEbot (Adaptive Laboratory Evolution robot) platform that Feist and his team developed at UC San Diego. The team used the ALEbot to run multiple experiments in parallel around the clock for months. This allowed them to direct the evolution of these new strains of Pseudomonas putida.

From sugar uptake to pigment

The researchers started with a Pseudomonas strain that had previously been engineered to consume the three sugars commonly found in agricultural waste: glucose, xylose and arabinose. But this starting strain had not been sufficiently optimized to meet the efficiency demands of biomanufacturing, which is where the new work fits in.

The engineers went on to program this bacterial strain to produce a desirable molecule, indigoidine, a blue pigment used for dyeing clothing.

“We partnered with research teams across three U.S. national laboratories to bring the necessary expertise together. In this arrangement, we each contributed our unique skill sets to both develop useful biomanufacturing strains and lay the groundwork for additional applications,” said Feist, a faculty member in the Shu Chien-Gene Lay Department of Bioengineering at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering.

Decades of selective breeding and intensive agricultural practices have reshaped cattle genetics—often at the expense of valuable diversity preserved in traditional herds—according to new research from Aberystwyth University.

The authors of the study, published in Applied Animal Science, warn that safeguarding these genetic resources is critical for sustainable farming in the face of climate change and shifting global demands.

Traditional cattle herds often carry unique genetic profiles that provide resilience against disease, fertility advantages or adaptability to challenging environments.

The researchers argue that losing these populations would mean losing irreplaceable traits that could help future generations of farmers respond to global challenges.

The review highlights examples from breeds such as Ayrshire, Jersey and Hereford, where traditional populations remain distinct from their modern counterparts.

These herds are typically smaller, less intensively managed and more closely tied to local environments, making them vital for conservation and future breeding strategies.

Researcher Kardelen Oya Temiz said, “Traditional cattle populations are more than just historical relics—they are living genetic libraries that hold answers to some of the most pressing challenges facing agriculture today. Modern breeding has understandably focused on productivity, but this has often come at the cost of genetic diversity.

“By studying and conserving these traditional herds, we can safeguard traits such as disease resistance, fertility and adaptability to harsh environments. These qualities may prove essential as farmers and breeders respond to climate change, shifting consumer demands and the need for more sustainable farming practices. If we lose these populations, we risk losing irreplaceable genetic resources that could help secure the future of livestock farming.”

The authors conclude that conserving traditional cattle populations is both a cultural responsibility and a practical necessity.

As climate change reshapes farming conditions and consumer demand shifts toward sustainability, traits preserved in traditional breeds may become increasingly valuable.

The study calls for more genomic surveys of breeds where ancestral populations still exist to ensure that their diversity is documented and available for use in the future.

Dr. Matt Hegarty, senior lecturer in the Department of Life Sciences at Aberystwyth University, added, “Modern agriculture has achieved remarkable gains in efficiency and output, but it has also narrowed the genetic base of many breeds. This narrowing makes herds more vulnerable to disease, environmental stress and changing market conditions.

“Traditional breeds offer us a chance to reintroduce resilience and adaptability into cattle populations. Preserving them is not just about heritage—it is about equipping agriculture with the tools it needs to face the future.”

Rice University engineers have developed a new strategy for controlling how therapeutic peptides are released from gelatin-based materials, a step that could make the small but powerful molecules more useful in tissue engineering and drug delivery.

Peptides can be designed to encourage biological processes such as bone formation, blood vessel growth and tissue repair. Compared with larger proteins, they are often more stable and easier to manufacture. Their small size, however, creates a major delivery challenge: When placed inside water-rich materials such as hydrogels, peptides can diffuse out rapidly rather than remaining at the treatment site for the days or weeks needed to support healing.

In a new study published in Cell Biomaterials, Rice engineers, led by Antonios Mikos, the Louis Calder Professor of Bioengineering and Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, in collaboration with researchers at Kyoto University, addressed that problem by adjusting the electrical charge of a model bone-promoting peptide and the gelatin microparticles used to carry it.

They found that electrostatic attraction between the peptide and the gelatin—similar to the attraction between opposite poles of magnets—could slow the peptide’s release for as long as two to three weeks.

“Therapeutic peptides are promising because they can be designed to perform very specific biological functions, but their small size makes it difficult to keep them in place and release them over time,” said Mikos. “By modifying the peptide’s charge, we were able to strengthen its interaction with the gelatin carrier and substantially extend its release.”

Testing charge on both sides

The study focused on osteogenic growth peptide, or OGP, a small molecule associated with bone formation. The researchers added short sequences of charged amino acids to the peptide, creating positively charged, negatively charged and electrically balanced versions. They then loaded the modified peptides into gelatin microparticles.

Gelatin was selected because it is biocompatible, commonly used in regenerative medicine and naturally carries an electrical charge that can vary depending on how it is processed; that versatility allowed the team to systematically study how the charge of both the peptide and the carrier affected loading and release.

The researchers also attached charged peptide sequences directly to some of the gelatin particles to determine whether adding more concentrated charge sites to the carrier would provide additional control. They measured how much peptide the particles could hold, how quickly the peptide was released and whether the modifications changed the particles’ swelling or degradation.

Peptide charge drove retention

The results showed that the electrical charge added to the therapeutic peptide itself played the largest role in determining its behavior. Positively charged peptide modifications generally increased retention within the gelatin particles and reduced the initial “burst release” that often occurs when a drug delivery material is first placed in a liquid environment.

The charge of the gelatin carrier also influenced delivery, but adding extra charged sequences directly to the gelatin had a more limited effect and did not significantly change the particles’ swelling or overall degradation.

Notably, one positively charged version of the peptide was released gradually for 14 to 21 days under enzyme-containing conditions designed to mimic aspects of a healing tissue environment. Previous hydrogel-based approaches have often struggled to deliver small, soluble peptides for more than several days without chemically binding them to the carrier.

“This study demonstrates that relatively simple charge modifications can provide a powerful way to tune peptide delivery,” said Emily Jiang, the study’s first author and a doctoral student in Mikos’ lab. “Because the peptide is held through noncovalent interactions rather than permanently attached to the carrier, it can still be released in its soluble form and potentially remain available to interact with surrounding cells and tissues.”

A flexible release design

This approach could help researchers tailor how long a therapeutic peptide remains active in the body, potentially allowing for the design of a delivery system that releases treatments at different rates. Although the team evaluated a peptide linked to bone growth in this study, the same strategy could potentially be adapted for other peptides that support blood vessel formation or tissue regeneration.

“This platform gives us several variables that can be adjusted to create a desired release profile,” Mikos said. “The broader goal is to develop adaptable delivery systems that can provide therapeutic peptides at the right location and over the right period of time for a particular regenerative application.”

Scientists at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have created a platform that pinpoints genetic triggers that turn microbes into efficient factories for new chemicals and materials. The method enables rapid, precise reprogramming of bacteria as biotechnology tools, supporting domestic production of valuable products and recovery of critical minerals and materials to enhance the nation’s supply chains and global competitiveness.

Scientists leveraged synthetic biology expertise, artificial intelligence and statistical mapping techniques to rapidly assess bacterial traits and precisely identify candidate genes that trigger desired characteristics. They then validated their findings with gene editing, as described in Nature Communications.

The approach builds on previous work by ORNL scientists who adapted a technique called protoplast fusion to create the diverse microbial offspring needed for genetic mapping.

The resulting platform enables the discovery of specific genetic triggers for complex traits, supporting precise design of microbes with targeted capabilities for applications such as the breakdown and conversion of plant lignin into valuable products and the uptake of critical minerals.

“Unlike past approaches that study the effect of gaining or losing whole genes, the new approach lets us determine how small differences in the nucleotide sequence affect bacterial function,” said Josh Michener, co-lead for the project and Biological Systems Design group leader at ORNL.

“Variations in strains at the nucleotide level have a huge impact on the resulting phenotype, especially when you’re engineering microbes with specific mutations. The method also lets us study natural mutations in parental strains that make them ideal biotechnology tools.”

Old-school technique makes fresh microbial mixes

To determine which genes control certain characteristics in organisms, scientists used a method called quantitative trait locus (QTL) mapping. QTL mapping involves analyzing the traits of many varied offspring from two distinct parents and is a common approach in mapping the genes of other organisms such as plants. The method examines many genetic differences at once and precisely identifies candidate genes in a single workflow.

The problem with applying QTL mapping to bacteria, however, is that these microorganisms reproduce asexually with limited genetic variation.

ORNL researchers overcame this hurdle by applying a tool first developed in the 1970s: protoplast fusion. Using the fusion technique, researchers were able to cross Bacillus strains, producing a large population of genetically varied offspring, called recombinants. Bacillus are model bacteria that serve as workhorses for fermentation, enzyme production and plant growth and health.

The team also tested the method across several other bacterial groups, demonstrating alternative genome shuffling methods that expand the tool’s usability on different types of microbes used as biotechnology tools. These include:

• Clostridium thermocellum, a bacterium that tolerates industrial processes and is good at breaking down and fermenting plant cellulose;
• Novosphingobium aromaticivorans, a bacterium that excels at breaking down aromatic compounds from plant lignin and converting the molecules into high-value chemicals;
• Stutzerimonas stutzeri, a versatile bacterium used in applications such as bioremediation and to fix nutrients in soil, supporting plant growth and suppressing plant pathogens.

Researchers measured properties of the bacteria and identified DNA variants that could explain the differences in those traits. They then validated their findings by using CRISPR gene-editing tools to swap gene sections and confirm the effects in bacteria.

“We have now, for the first time ever, put all these pieces together for a platform that gets results on complex gene-to-trait linkages much faster,” Michener said. “We built the genetically diverse bacteria population, identified DNA variants and confirmed the work with gene editing.”

Automation results in 10 times faster phenotyping

By creating such broad diversity in the bacterial offspring, scientists faced a challenge in the research: phenotyping all the progeny. They tackled it with automation and AI, setting up a robotic system to quickly and repeatedly place plates with precision so that high-resolution digital imaging could be accomplished at the same angle and lighting for comparable data between the recombinants.

The phenotyping was accomplished 10 times faster with automation, the scientists noted.

Getting consistent data was crucial to the application of mathematical algorithms and the use of a computer vision model that processed the images and extracted traits, said co-lead Dan Jacobson, ORNL computational systems biologist.

“We built this project with a very multidisciplinary lineup,” Jacobson said. “The team did everything from building the robotics, conducting imaging and image processing, performing the statistical work, the mapping and assemblies, the genome shuffling work, growing these different isolates from the population and extracting DNA to send for sequencing, then growing them again for the phenotype assays.

“It’s an example of the kind of good collaboration that’s possible at a national lab and how that research can enable whole new areas of inquiry across the nation’s science ecosystem.”

The microbial QTL mapping platform is available for licensing at ORNL. Scientists continue to deploy the method to study and engineer microbes for better manufacturing processes as part of the DOE Center for Bioenergy Innovation (CBI) at ORNL. The platform is also being used to study plant-associated microbes as part of the DOE Secure Ecosystem Engineering and Design Science Focus Area (SEED SFA), as well as by a program at Colorado State University studying airborne microbes.

For the first time, a group of biologists and engineers from the University of São Paulo (USP) in Brazil applied LiDAR (light detection and ranging) technology to investigate the health of trees and optimize pruning with the aim of reducing the risk of trees falling. This laser-sensing technology creates a “point cloud,” a kind of 3D digital mold consisting of millions of coordinates that reproduces the plant’s exact architecture in a computer.

The researchers used this replica to apply a pruning algorithm based on “topological optimization.” The technique simulates wind strength in a tree model to identify regions of the plant with the greatest mechanical vulnerability (compliance). In this manner, the system calculates exactly which branches must be cut so the tree can redistribute stress and become stronger and more balanced. The group’s ultimate goal is to use LiDAR and other available techniques to create a pruning app that will make trees less susceptible to wind, thus reducing the risk of falling.

This problem is well known. In December 2025, winds exceeding 90 km/h (56 mph) swept through São Paulo and surrounding areas. The result: 1,327 reported incidents of fallen trees in the São Paulo Metropolitan Area, including incidents resulting in injuries. More than 2 million inhabitants were left without power.

“Improper pruning leaves trees vulnerable to wind, which can uproot or break trunks and branches, especially in isolated trees, at high speeds. The problem is exacerbated by wind tunnels, known as urban canyons. Gusts of wind, rain and temperature fluctuations during the rainy season increase the risk of trees falling, especially in the case of poorly managed or diseased trees,” summarizes Marcos Silveira Buckeridge, coordinator of the Laboratory of Ecological Plant Physiology (LAFIECO) in the Department of Botany at the University of São Paulo’s Institute of Biosciences (IB-USP) and co-author of a paper published in May in the journal Trees: Structure and Function.

The study began with an informal conversation between Buckeridge and Emílio Carlos Nelli Silva of the Department of Mechatronics and Mechanical Systems Engineering at USP’s Engineering School (POLI). “I asked if it’d be possible to develop a better pruning method by studying the balance of trees. He said we could develop a set of equations for that.” The pair also invited Marcelo Knörich Zuffo, from the Department of Electronic Systems Engineering at POLI-USP, who has extensive experience with LiDAR.

The first author of the article, Luís Otávio Trotti Martins Guedes de Souza, was supervised by Nelli Silva at POLI-USP.

The researchers scanned a rosewood tree (Tipuana tipu) located on USP’s Butantã campus. This tree is commonly used in urban landscaping. “The scanner is mounted on a tripod near the base of the tree, which must be well lit. Weather conditions must be favorable. After completing the scan at the first point, the scanner must be moved to another position near the tree, and this process is repeated until enough perspectives have been captured to generate a complete point cloud of the object,” Buckeridge explains.

A point cloud of 30 million points was formed to capture the tree’s shape. “Using this, Luís Otávio began developing the equations. The leaves were removed from the 3D images, leaving only the trunk. Then, we applied wind from various directions and observed the tree’s sensitivity.”

This exposure to wind is accurately modeled using finite element method (FEM) simulations, which help predict how trees respond to stresses such as wind and temperature.

The results show that pruning a branch creates topological asymmetry and makes the tree more vulnerable to wind. “This article is important because it’s a proof of concept, using mathematical equations to demonstrate that it’s possible to use LiDAR for this purpose.” The biologist states that mathematical modeling is well suited to predicting whether a tree might fall. “The problem is that scanning a single tree with the level of detail used in this paper takes 40 minutes.”

In this case, the scanned tree is located in a wind tunnel. There are neighboring trees on its sides, but none behind or in front of it. Therefore, it is directly exposed to the wind. “We found that it’s stronger on the sides where it has no contact with neighboring trees. A cluster of intertwined trees is more resistant than a single tree because the branches help dissipate the wind. We haven’t yet performed calculations on wind dissipation through the leaves, but we intend to.”

The pruning algorithm based on topological optimization recommends removing material (e.g., branches or parts of the tree) based on the stress distribution obtained through FEM. The team aims to minimize structural weaknesses by ensuring that no more than 20% of the tree’s total mass is removed during pruning. According to Nelli Silva, topological optimization prioritizes regions with greater mechanical flexibility, resulting in a balanced, resistant structure. In other words, pruning calculated by the algorithm improves the tree’s response to wind, especially in cases where the tree is unbalanced due to fallen branches or disease.

Buckeridge states that the methodology can be applied to eudicotyledonous angiosperms (the largest group of flowering plants on the planet, encompassing beans, soybeans, oranges and strawberries, as well as roses, ipes and sunflowers), which have a classic structure of branches and twigs. “I can’t extend this method to palm trees, for example,” he says. However, the author emphasizes that human labor in pruning remains essential. “We aren’t talking about replacing humans in pruning work, but rather providing a tool to facilitate it and, at the same time, make the tree more resilient.”

He mentions a project in São Paulo that is using the technique to scan all 650,000 street trees. “Perhaps it wouldn’t be possible to do it [on a large scale] as precisely as we did in this study, which assessed a single tree,” Buckeridge ponders. Nevertheless, he argues that the strategy would still be able to estimate the plant’s health.

For now, the LiDAR technique is being used only for tree monitoring and cataloging, not to guide pruning.

Roots, movement and water

The article does not include data on tree roots. However, approximately 30% of tree falls in the city of São Paulo are root-related. “That’s an important point that we address in another paper, which has already been submitted. In it, we compare trees in a parking lot, on the sidewalk and in a park. A former student of mine, Aline Cavalari, a professor at UNIFESP [Federal University of São Paulo], is leading these studies.”

He explains that the root data are obtained using ground-penetrating radar. “It’s a kind of wheel that we roll around the tree to ‘see’ the roots. In that study, published in Trees, we included an adjustment in the calculation to account for the exclusion of the roots. But that’s a challenge: we’ll have to include the roots.”

The biologist says the ideal solution would be to develop an app that considers most factors contributing to a tree’s risk of falling, such as the expansion and contraction of wood in response to temperature. “That property of wood isn’t yet factored into the models. But now, we’ve purchased several dendrometers—devices that measure expansion and contraction—which is also related to the presence of water, an important factor in the risk of a tree falling. When it rains all week, the tree’s weight increases dramatically, as does the probability of it falling, but we still can’t calculate that. It’s possible to factor water, weight and everything else into the equations. But processing all of that computationally will be quite a challenge. It’s a problem we’ll have to tackle.”

Other uses for LiDAR

The scientists have been conducting various experiments on trees on the USP campus. Trees with existing issues, such as being hollow inside, having dying roots or dying canopies, are more vulnerable, and the team is trying to map this vulnerability.

“On ‘the street of banks’ [Avenida Professor Luciano Gualberto], we’re examining each tree individually to assess its health and the danger it poses. We’ve already finished half. Now, we’re going to use LiDAR to map that inventory. We bought a small device with suction cups that attaches to the car. Traveling at 20 kilometers per hour (12 mph), we can map all the trees on the street. We can tell if they have holes in their trunks, for example. The accuracy is down to the centimeter,” Buckeridge says. He is assisted by mathematician Roberto Hirata in the image-recognition work.

Another experiment is being conducted on Avenida Professor Mello Moraes. There, the team—including postdoctoral researcher Fernanda Mendes de Rezende and undergraduate research student Jonatas da Silveira—found sibipiruna trees (Caesalpinia pluviosa) infected with Ganoderma, a fungus that typically grows on the underside of tree trunks.

“With the help of PD Instrumentos, we used a penetrometer to measure the wood’s resistance and determine if there are cavities in the trunk, as well as an ultrasound device to supplement the data. In this case, you tap the trunk with a small hammer, and the ultrasound device captures the returning echo.”

According to the researcher, the team found five infected trees with cavities and five unaffected trees. “Using these two techniques together already yields incredible results. Now, we’re going to use LiDAR to see the differences between them and study the best way to cross-reference the data. If we use LiDAR to examine the canopies and find visible evidence of the trees’ health—or lack thereof—we’ll be able to develop a diagnostic protocol that considers various possibilities. In other words, we’re using LiDAR in a variety of ways.”

Universal markers

There are researchers studying tree biochemistry to find markers that reveal susceptibility. One such researcher is Bruno Viana Navarro. “We’re starting to collect samples to analyze the trees biochemically, with the aim of discovering universal vulnerability markers—that is, markers that can be used across various species. I think it’s possible to find universal markers because there’s basic physiology that all trees share, even palm trees,” Buckeridge explains.

According to Buckeridge, one can seek answers by examining sugars, alcohols, secondary metabolites or even gene expression in the case of a search for genetic markers.

Livestock farming requires valuable land to grow fodder, uses vast amounts of freshwater and contributes to global warming through methane and nitrous oxide emissions. And, for many consumers it is important to prevent animal suffering. For these reasons, the global market for meat alternatives is currently worth €6.7 billion to €8.1 billion per year and is projected to grow 8.1% to 12.3% each year over the next decade.

One common method for producing fake meat is microbial engineering, in which genes coding for animal proteins are inserted into the genomes of bacteria or yeast for mass production in bioreactors. But now, scientists have developed a promising alternative as a proof of principle.

“Here we show that plants can be engineered to produce the animal protein myoglobin (Mb) in their chloroplasts, the energy factories for photosynthesis. This could provide a more sustainable way to produce an important ingredient for plant-based meat products,” said Dr. Alexia Groff, a researcher at Imperial College London.

The results are published in Frontiers in Plant Science.

Beefing up plants

Myoglobin is an important component of the heart and skeletal muscle of vertebrates. Myoglobin is rich in iron, which is why meat has a metallic and umami flavor, while the oxygen bound to it gives meat its red color. Groff and colleagues first cloned the genes for pig and cattle myoglobin.

They then used a so-called “gene gun” to physically shoot copies of the genes into the chloroplasts of tobacco and lettuce seedlings in the laboratory. Tests confirmed that some seedlings had subsequently integrated the gene into the short, ringlike genome of their chloroplasts. The plants were then grown to adulthood, flowered and set seed, with their offspring inheriting the transgene.

For comparison, the authors also inserted the gene into the much larger nuclear genome of both plant species, as well as into the chloroplast of the unicellular alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii.

“Due to their bacterial ancestry and their high number of copies per cell, chloroplasts are generally much better at making large amounts of protein than the cell nucleus,” said Groff. “Here, we used tobacco because it is the best model plant for developing this technology, and lettuce because it is an edible crop that could eventually be used for food ingredient production.”

Measurements by liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry showed that myoglobin yields were approximately 800 mg per kilogram dry weight of tobacco and 810 mg per kilogram dry weight of lettuce. This was at least three times higher than the yield from tobacco plants with the transgene spliced into the nuclear genome. Real meat contains between 8.1 and 11.2 mg myoglobin per gram dry weight.

“Despite this, plant cultivation is far more resource-efficient than livestock production; consequently, plant-derived Mb could achieve protein yields per hectare that rival—or even potentially exceed—those of animal agriculture, while also benefiting from substantially lower water use and greenhouse gas emissions,” the authors wrote.

Planting a seed for future production

What are the next steps before the discovery can be commercialized? “The myoglobin could be extracted from leaves and purified using industrial protein purification methods. Since it is identical to animal myoglobin, it could then be added as an ingredient to plant-based meat products to improve their color, flavor and nutritional value,” explained Groff.

“We hope that edible lettuce, modified to express myoglobin, could also one day serve as a heme-iron-enriched biofortified food, depending on legislative approval,” added co-author Dr. Kyoko Morimoto, chief scientific officer at Kyomei, a Cambridge-based plant biotechnology startup.

Vegetable oils serve as critical feedstocks for biofuels and bioproducts by providing energy-dense hydrocarbon molecules. Some plants have evolved divergent enzyme sets to produce high-value unusual fatty acids with novel chain lengths or functional groups.

A new study by researchers at the Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation (CABBI) aims to elucidate and harness an unusual fatty acid biosynthetic pathway in the seeds of Orychophragmus limprichtianus to expand the synthetic biology toolbox for plant- and microbe-based bioproducts.

Researchers conducted advanced lipid analyses using TLC, GC-MS and LC-MS to identify and characterize the previously unknown fatty acid composition in seeds of O. limprichtianus. They combined biochemical assays and molecular biology with AI-guided protein structure modeling to better understand the molecular mechanism of the biosynthetic pathway. The proposed biosynthetic pathway was reconstructed in an engineered oilseed host to validate enzyme function in vivo.

Two enzymes drive the pathway

Unusual fatty acids in O. limprichtianus seeds were identified as C24–C28 keto-hydroxy fatty acids. This distinct lipid profile is driven by two divergent enzymes: fatty acid elongase 1 (FAE1) and 3-ketoacyl-CoA reductase (KCR1).

These findings revealed a biosynthetic pathway in which the plant system has acquired bacterial polyketide synthase (PKS)-like discontinuous elongation functionality.

Reconstruction points to industrial use
This work reveals unprecedented evolutionary plasticity in plant lipid metabolism, breaking traditional boundaries of fatty acid engineering. The researchers successfully reconstructed this pathway in an engineered oilseed host, establishing a powerful synthetic biology toolkit to produce high-value oil. This work provides a scalable bio-based source for industrial lubricants, supporting the bioeconomy.

In a new study by the Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation (CABBI), researchers evaluated oil sorghum lines in Nebraska and Illinois over two years to quantify genotype-by-environment effects on agronomic performance and triacylglycerol accumulation. The research is published in the Plant Biotechnology Journal.

The current domestic supply of plant-based oils is not adequate to meet the projected increase in domestic biofuel demand, including sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). In this context, engineered oil sorghum (OS) is being developed as a novel bioenergy crop that accumulates triacylglycerol (TAG) in its vegetative tissues. Field testing of new engineered OS lines is a key step in developing an ideal OS hybrid for SAF production.

The researchers assessed the physiological and agronomic performance of four OS lines across a range of environmental conditions in the potential growing region for OS.

Field trials across two states

Four engineered OS lines derived from TX430 grain (TxHO-2, TxHO-3) and Ramada sweet (RmHO-1, RmHO-2) sorghum genetic backgrounds were grown alongside wild-type (WT) lines in Nebraska and Illinois over two years (2023–2024) to quantify genotype-by-environment effects on agronomic performance and TAG accumulation.

TX430 OS lines averaged 15.0 g kg⁻¹ TAG in leaves and 12.3 g kg⁻¹ in stems, representing 25- and 13-fold increases over WT, respectively. Ramada OS lines averaged 26.1 g kg⁻¹ TAG in leaves and 12.3 g kg⁻¹ in stems, 25- and 13-fold increases over WT, respectively.

Biomass shaped oil yield

TX430 lines exhibited an average 18% reduction in biomass overall relative to WT. However, the line with the highest cumulative TAG (TxHO-2) did not differ significantly from WT. Ramada OS biomass yield was similar to WT. TAG yield was greatest in TxHO-2 (190 kg ha⁻¹) and RmHO-1 (335 kg ha⁻¹), with biomass yield differences, rather than TAG concentration, driving the difference between the two lines.

Nutrient removal (N, P and K) increased in TX430 OS lines but not in Ramada lines, while structural carbohydrates and ash concentrations were unaffected.

This work confirms vegetative lipid accumulation as a viable strategy for high-biomass sorghum, supporting its potential as a SAF feedstock. Future work is needed to optimize agronomic practices.

Digital technologies could strengthen food security in developing countries, but their impact will be limited unless governments address distrust, weak collaboration and institutional inefficiencies, according to a study focusing on Mauritius published in the International Journal of Agriculture Innovation, Technology and Globalisation.

The researchers examined the stability pillar of food security, which refers to the ability of a food system to provide reliable access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food over time. This applies even during disruptions such as pandemics, wars and supply chain failures.

The team interviewed stakeholders across Mauritius’ food sector and found that information is rarely shared because of low levels of trust among producers, businesses and public authorities. Although digital infrastructure is available, they found that bureaucratic barriers prevent technologies from being used effectively.

Global food security has deteriorated for several years, with recent shocks exposing vulnerabilities in international food supply chains, particularly in import-dependent developing countries. Because Mauritius imports almost three-quarters of its food, it is particularly vulnerable.

The study argues that digital technologies, such as crop sensors, AI tools and even blockchain technologies usually associated with cryptocurrencies, might improve food production and safety. But the benefits of using such tools depend on whether institutions are willing to exchange information and coordinate their use.

Plant biologists and engineers have extended their studies to the skies to track airborne pollen once it leaves a crop. In a new study, published in Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, researchers established an accurate methodology for tracking, measuring and forecasting pollen dispersal of genetically engineered switchgrass at both ground and atmospheric levels.

“This is the first study to bring all these elements together in one experiment,” said first author Manu Nimmala Ph.D. ’26. “We combined genetically engineered switchgrass that produced fluorescent pollen, novel drone- and ground-based sampling systems, high-resolution wind measurements, and atmospheric dispersal simulations to connect measured pollen concentrations with pollen release from the source field.”

A genetically engineered crop has DNA that has been intentionally modified to introduce a specific trait.

According to David G. Schmale III, professor of plant and environmental sciences, the atmosphere is one of the least-sampled ecosystems. An increased understanding of how pollen moves through the atmosphere can help improve strategies for managing the movement of pollen and genes between neighboring plants, protecting seed production systems and forecasting airborne allergens.

“Pollen is an airborne particle with important implications for agriculture, ecosystems, and human health,” said Schmale.

Those with allergies may appreciate the ability to accurately predict pollen distribution in the atmosphere, but pollen can also be a nuisance for crops and farmers.

“Farmers can build fences to keep livestock out, but fences don’t stop pollen, plant pathogens, or tiny insects from moving across the landscape,” said Schmale, director of the Translational Plant Sciences Center. “That invisible movement is what makes atmospheric biology both so challenging and so important to understand.”

In this case, the researchers engineered the switchgrass to produce an orange fluorescent protein in its pollen, allowing them to distinguish it from naturally occurring pollen in the environment. Drones equipped with air-sampling devices that draw airborne particles into a liquid solution were then flown over the genetically engineered crop. In addition, two other kinds of air-sampling devices measured pollen transfer at ground level.

“A sampler can tell you that pollen was in the air, but it doesn’t automatically tell you how it got there,” said Nimmala, currently a postdoctoral fellow in engineering mechanics. “The goal was to connect what we captured to the field and the meteorology.”

The team found that pollen movement could be measured using a combination of ground- and drone-based sampling systems. High-volume ground samplers were the most effective at capturing pollen from the small field source, while drone-based samplers demonstrated the ability to collect pollen above and downwind of the field source. The genetically engineered switchgrass also provided a proof of concept for tracking pollen movement in the atmosphere using fluorescent markers.

The results showed that pollen release rose in the early afternoon and was shaped by weather, especially wind speed, humidity and temperature. When winds were slow and shifting, shorter wind-averaging windows helped the model better follow the plume.

“We found that it’s really important to include changing wind directions when predicting where pollen travels,” Nimmala said. “When we accounted for that, the modeled prediction better matched what we measured in the field.”

Switchgrass was used for the research, according to Schmale, because it is a leading perennial bioenergy crop in the United States that can produce large amounts of biomass but requires fewer inputs than corn.

“That is one reason regulators want a strong understanding of how pollen and genes move through the environment before new varieties are deployed at scale,” Schmale said.

And that is the next step: to scale up.