Production of biobased molecules to enhance drought tolerance in plants

The presented work is part of the TOLERATE EU project “Adaptation to climate change in the rhizosphere across the millennia” (https://tolerate-eu-project.com/). TOLERATE aims to improve plant drought-tolerance via soil bioaugmentation with rhizosphere soil bacteria engineered to produce drought-beneficial traits, e.g., by expressing ancient genes from past geological times that have already experienced climate change and extreme heat and drought events. TOLERATE also explores the biotechnological potential for bioproducts with novel or enhanced functionalities. The latter part is the focus of the work carried out here at Heriot-Watt University where we assessed selected soil bacteria for drought-beneficial and plant growth-promoting traits. Additionally, engineered bacteria were provided from another project partner. We are currently scaling up the fermentation and cultivation of both native and engineered bacteria to facilitate the production of promising biobased molecules with sought-after functionalities. These biobased molecules will be passed on to further project partners who will investigate their potential for industrial applications.