OpenPlant ERASynBio Summer School in New Phytologist

New Phytologist have published a report on the OpenPlant ERASynBio Summer School in plant synthetic biology authored by Nicola Patron, Colette Matthewman and collaborators at BBSRC.

European science policy is reflecting the increasing importance of synthetic biology as a tool to drive cutting-edge scientific developments. Significant strategic investment has been made, coordinated by the European Research Area Network for synthetic biology (ERASynBio), to ensure European synthetic biology research is coherent and world-leading. Strategies to achieve this include providing high-quality training for the next generation of synthetic biologists, and fostering international collaborations across a range of disciplines (ERASynBio, 2014). To realize these aims, ERASynBio has funded annual summer schools to bring together early career researchers from across ERASynBio partner countries for world-class synthetic biology training and networking. The second of these summer schools, which ran on 14–20 September 2014 at the John Innes Centre, Norwich, UK, was designed to provide the participants with ‘An introduction to synthetic biology in plant systems’ in conjunction with OpenPlant, a collaborative plant-focussed Synthetic Biology Research Centre linking the University of Cambridge, John Innes Centre and The Sainsbury Laboratory.

‘… an invaluable and enjoyable opportunity for early career researchers to learn from and engage with world-leading experts in plant synthetic biology.’

Read more via New Phytologist
Carmichael, R. E., Boyce, A., Matthewman, C., & Patron, N. J. (2015). An introduction to synthetic biology in plant systems. New Phytologist, 208(1), 20-22. DOI: 10.1111/nph.13433

First common standard for assembly of DNA parts in plant SynBio published

Dr Nicola Patron

Supported by OpenPlant, Dr Nicola Patron of The Sainsbury Laboratory, Norwich, has led development of the first common standard for the assembly of DNA parts for plant synthetic biology.

Published today in New Phytologist as a Viewpoint article, this standard has been agreed between the inventors and developers of several Type IIS cloning technologies, the leaders of numerous plant bioengineering consortia and leaders of international plant science.

In the article, Nicola and her co-authors describe a common syntax of twelve fusion sites to enable the facile assembly of eukaryotic transcriptional units.

The manuscript received favourable support in the peer review process. One reviewer commented that “ …this is somewhat of a landmark publication that will massively influence all plant synthetic biology to come and shows the community in this field to be ahead of their colleagues in other areas.” Another remarked that “this paper will be a catalyst for further discussion around standardization not only in plants but in synthetic biology in general.”

By establishing a standard for the wider plant community Nicola and her colleagues will facilitate the sharing of standard parts for plants between scientists. It also sets a basis for the development of software and hardware that will support accelerated design and automated assembly. Their vision is to develop an extensive catalogue of standardised, characterised DNA parts to accelerate plant bioengineering.

The establishment of a DNA assembly standard for plants is an important and timely step in plant synthetic biology.

Dr Jim Haseloff at the University of Cambridge said: “The publication of a common syntax for plant DNA parts is a landmark for the adoption of engineering principles in multicellular organisms. It is the result of wide cooperation between researchers across the plant biology field, and sets the scene for greater scientific exchange and innovation in crop improvement.”

Read the paper: ‘Standards for plant synthetic biology: a common syntax for exchange of DNA parts’

Edited from the post Dr Nicola Patron establishes first common standard for assembly of DNA parts in plant SynBio which appeared first on The Sainsbury Laboratory.

Source: Dr Nicola Patron establishes first common standard for assembly of DNA parts in plant SynBio