Engineered Plants Modifying Inositol Pyrophosphates
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Solution Overview
Problem
Phosphorus is a limiting factor in crop yield due to its limited availability in soils and projected depletion of reserves within 30 years, necessitating improved phosphorus-use efficiency in plants.
Innovation Solution
Engineered plants with increased expression and/or amount of inositol tetrakisphosphate kinase (ITPK) and/or diphosphoinositol pentakisphosphate (VIP) genes, leading to enhanced phosphorus-use efficiency and reduced Pi accumulation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If plants uptake phosphate from soil, then phosphorus is available for plant growth, but phosphorus reserves are limited and projected to be depleted within 30 years
Solution Approach 1:
The invention changes the biochemical parameters within plant cells by increasing inositol pyrophosphate levels, which alters phosphate sensing and signaling. This enables plants to more efficiently utilize available phosphate, effectively increasing phosphorus availability without depleting external reserves
2Productivity
If inositol pyrophosphate levels are increased to improve phosphorus-use efficiency, then plants can thrive in sub-optimal phosphorus conditions, but the complexity of metabolic pathways is increased
Solution Approach 1:
The invention utilizes the plant's own endogenous metabolic pathways by upregulating existing genes (ITPK1, ITPK2, VIP1, VIP2) that are naturally present in the plant genome. This self-service approach increases inositol pyrophosphate production without introducing foreign metabolic pathways, thereby improving phosphorus-use efficiency while minimizing additional metabolic complexity
Data Source
AI summary
Described in certain example embodiments herein are engineered plants that overexpress an ITPK and/or a VIP gene, gene product, or both. In some embodiments, the VIP gene, gene product, or both is the kinase domain of the an ITPK gene product. Also described in certain example embodiments herein are methods of making and uses of the engineered plants described herein.