Harnessing the SynBio Revolution for Metabolic Engineering and Enhanced Photosynthesis

The 2023 Gordon Research Conference on Chloroplast Biotechnology will present novel research in all areas relevant to engineering chloroplasts to either improve existing functions or provide them with new ones. The technologies discussed will cover the entire range from subtle tweaks in plastid metabolism to complete redesign of the plastid genome, and will include all aspects of modifying organellar genomes, proteomes or metabolomes needed for applications in agriculture, industrial biotechnology or the pharmaceutical sector. Target products to be covered include, for example, biopharmaceuticals (vaccines and therapeutic proteins), industrial enzymes, green chemicals and next-generation biofuels. Chloroplasts are key organelles in the energy biology of plants and improving their photosynthetic efficiency (for example through gains in the transduction of light energy or carbon fixation) is a major goal of many research groups around the world. Recent progress in this research, particularly through the transfer of molecular solutions from algae and cyanobacteria, has been impressive. In parallel, the engineering of novel functions into chloroplasts to make use of their prodigious metabolic and protein synthesis capabilities is also at an exciting juncture. The genetic transformation of plastids is now routine in many plants and algae, so the focus is moving to synthetic biology solutions based on expression of multiple genes under sophisticated control circuits. Indeed, the relatively small and well-understood plastid genome is now a prime target for ambitious projects in several countries aimed at design and synthesis of novel genomes with enhanced traits. The basic science underpinning these advances (genome structure and replication, control of gene expression, protein synthesis and import, assembly of protein complexes, protein quality control and turnover, plastid metabolism, metabolite transport) will be covered where relevant to these biotechnological applications. This conference is designed to attract attendees from both academia and the biotechnology industry and is intended to catalyse discussion and collaboration between researchers in the public and private sectors.