Collaborative bacterial and yeast ‘factories’ make important plant hormone agrochemicals
Hormones are critical to the growth and function of plants, much like they are for humans. Therefore, these molecules are an important class of agrochemicals that enable more nutrient-efficient plant growth, which is a critical need in land-scarce regions like Singapore. However, it is conventionally difficult to isolate these molecules from plants, and to make them in sufficient quantities for applications in agriculture. A research team at NUS ChBE led by Dr. Kang Zhou, in collaboration with a team at the University of California, has invented a way to circumvent this challenge, by coaxing bacteria and yeast to collaboratively make an important class of plant hormones called ‘Strigolactones’. These microbial ‘consortia’ are an interesting and scalable path towards sustainable production of agrochemicals via simple processes like fermentation. Read all about this at:
https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abh4048
