Professor Julia Bailey-Serres and colleagues from the University of California, Riverside have identified transcription factors involved in the synthesis and modulation of suberin in plants. These transcription factors can be gene-edited or otherwise engineered in rice or other monocot crops to alter suberin production – which can lead to development of new rice cultivars with enhanced tolerance to stresses ranging from increased soil salinity to drought to pest. Fig 1: Fluorol Yellow (FY) staining of rice crown roots for suberin in longitudinal views of the exodermis and radial cross sections under environmental conditions of well-watered (CON) or water deficit (WD).

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Prof. Juan Pablo Giraldo and his lab at the University of California, Riverside have developed a method for the targeted delivery of nanomaterials to the phloem such as pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers using carbon dots with a sucrose-functionalized nanoparticle surface (sucQDs). This technology is advantageous surface functionalization with sucrose enables faster and more efficient foliar delivery of nanoparticles into the plant phloem, a vascular tissue responsible for long-distance transport of sugars from sources (i.e., mature leaves) to sinks (i.e., roots). This technology is available for non-exclusive licensing. Fig 1: Representative images showing the high colocalization of sucQDs with the fluorescent dye that labels phloem cells (in blue). Scale bar = 30 μm

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Prof. Sean Cutler and colleagues at the University of California, Riverside have engineered a system and methods to induce gene expression in plants and organisms, including mammals, using the chemical compound mandipropamid. Using the PYR/PYL/HAB1 promoter system, the PYR1/HAB1 system is reprogrammed to be activiated with mandipropamid.  When the PYR1/HAB1 system dimerizes through chemical induced dimerization (CID) with mandipropamid, the system functions as a control switch for gene expression. This technology has been demonstrated to advantageously accelerate citrus breeding.  It may be applied to improve CAR T-cell therapy and agricultural crops. Fig 1: UCR’s PYR1/HAB1 system is programmed through chemical induced dimerization (CID) initiated by mandipropamid to function as a switch for agrochemical control of gene expression.  

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