Decoding and encoding plant genomes to improve disease resistance

Innate immune receptors provide plants with sufficient recognition specificities to maintain resistance against rapidly evolving pathogens. Understanding the rules of plant innate receptor evolution can produce new bioengineering approaches to genetic resistance in crops. Availability of plant pan-genomes, including those of Arabidopsis, Brachypodium, soybean and maize, allowed us to identify subsets of receptors that are highly variable in nature. With updated computational approaches, we are able to predict and rationally modify receptor ligand binding sites. Newly engineered receptors require appropriate control of receptor activation, which we are achieving through a combination of protein engineering and transcriptional regulation. We foresee application of synthetic biology combined with genome editing to become a sustainable solution to disease resistance and can be adapted across different crops.