Urban overpopulation, climate change and natural resources decrement are threatening food security. Ensuring season-less, accessible and local food production promotes a sustainable agriculture. Valencia_UPV provides a whole new system to control plant physiology at both genetic and environmental level.

ChatterPlant is a SynBio-based solution that works as plant-human interface allowing a bidirectional communication. First, a root-specific modular optogenetic circuit enables control on plants´ endogenous gene expression (e.g flowering). Then, a sensor circuit with color coded output provides specific information of stress conditions, accelerating corrective measures. The genetic setup is complemented with a hardware device, ChatterBox, specially designed to control plant’s growth conditions.

ChatterPlant’s possibilities can be improved gathering Plant SynBio knowledge. PlantLabCo is an open-access online platform which aims to unify Plant SynBio researchers’ work. Individual results can be published, supported by a modeling software tool integrated to ease the mathematical models’ generation of genetic circuits.