Recombinant Beneficial Microbes for Sustained Plant Effector Delivery
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing harpin proteins and polypeptides have limited solubility and stability in liquid suspensions, leading to rapid degradation and require frequent applications to maintain efficacy, which is inefficient and costly for agricultural use.
Innovation Solution
Development of recombinant beneficial microbes that express plant effector proteins or polypeptides, such as harpinαβ, which are engineered to provide prolonged benefits to plants by integrating a transgene encoding these proteins into microbial hosts, allowing for extended plant stimulation and resistance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Duration of action of moving object
If harpin proteins are used as liquid suspensions, then they can be applied to plants, but they degrade rapidly and lose activity within 48-72 hours
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses beneficial microbes as intermediary carriers to deliver and maintain harpin protein activity in the plant environment. The microbes serve as living vectors that continuously produce and release the harpin protein, eliminating the need for stable liquid suspensions and extending the duration of plant stimulation significantly beyond the 48-72 hour limit of direct protein applications.
Solution Approach 2:
The recombinant beneficial microbes are engineered to autonomously produce and secrete harpin protein through their metabolic processes. Once applied to the plant, the microbes self-replicate and continuously generate the active protein without external intervention, creating a self-sustaining system that maintains plant protection and growth stimulation over extended periods.
2Reliability
If multiple applications of harpin solutions are made, then plant resistance and growth benefits are maintained, but application frequency and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The beneficial microbes are applied to plants during the growing season to establish a persistent protective effect. The microbes colonize the plant surface and continuously produce harpin protein, creating a long-lasting immunological memory and resistance state that eliminates the need for frequent reapplication and reduces overall management costs.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent establishes a continuous action system where the beneficial microbes remain active on the plant surface, continuously producing and releasing harpin protein throughout the growing season. This uninterrupted production maintains plant resistance and growth promotion effects without requiring discrete, frequent applications, thereby improving application efficiency.
3Ease of operation
If harpin proteins are applied topically, then active plant responses are induced, but the responses are limited in duration requiring multiple applications
Solution Approach 1:
The beneficial microbes serve as living intermediaries that deliver harpin protein directly to the plant through their metabolic activities. This biological delivery mechanism simplifies the application process compared to direct protein formulation while extending the duration of plant response, as the microbes continuously produce and release the active protein throughout the growing season.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The recombinant microbes offer prolonged plant growth enhancement, disease resistance, and stress tolerance with reduced application frequency, minimizing pesticide use and enhancing crop yield and quality.
Implementation Method 1
a transgene that comprises a promoter-effective nucleic acid molecule operably coupled to a nucleic acid molecule that encodes a plant effector protein or polypeptide
Data Source
AI summary
Disclosed are recombinant host cells comprising a promoter-effective nucleic acid molecule operably coupled to a nucleic acid molecule that encodes a plant effector protein or polypeptide that induces an active plant response including, among others, growth enhancement, disease resistance, pest or insect resistance, and stress resistance. Use of these recombinant host cells for modulating plant biochemical signaling, imparting disease resistance to plants, enhancing plant growth, imparting tolerance to biotic stress, imparting tolerance and resistance to abiotic stress, imparting desiccation resistance to cuttings removed from ornamental plants, imparting post-harvest disease or post-harvest desiccation resistance to a fruit or vegetable, or enhancing the longevity of fruit or vegetable ripeness are also disclosed.