Synthetic genetic circuits in crop plants

•Genetic circuits have the potential to accelerate crop improvement.•Successful genetic circuits are currently made from heterologous, composable parts.•Higher throughput methods for gene delivery into crop plants are needed.•Gene stacking technologies will be essential.•Consumers and regulators need to be engaged, and concerns adequately addressed.

The love affair between crop breeding and genetics began over a century ago and has continued unabated, from mass selection programs to targeted genome modifications. Synthetic genetic circuits, a recent development, are combinations of regulatory and coding DNA introduced into a crop plant to achieve a desired function. Genetic circuits could accelerate crop improvement, allowing complex traits to be rationally designed and requisite DNA parts delivered directly into a genome of interest. However, there is not yet a standardized pipeline from exploratory laboratory testing to crop trials, and bringing transgenic products to market remains a considerable barrier. We highlight successes so far and future developments necessary to make genetic circuits a viable crop improvement technology over this century.

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