University of tennessee: knoxville. New award control number: 3405-1543 FOA number: DE-FOA-0003405 (teosynte) project title: ''SYN-fix: synthetic biology to improve nitrogen cycling in the maize…

The Department of Energy Advanced Research Projects Agency awarded a $2.641 million cooperative agreement to the University of Tennessee, Knoxville on March 11, 2026 under the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy program (CFDA 81.135) to develop synthetic biology approaches that reduce nitrous oxide emissions and enhance nitrogen transfer in maize by engineering both the plant and its rhizosphere microbes.

The project, titled "SYN-FIX: Synthetic Biology to Improve Nitrogen Cycling in the Maize Rhizosphere," employs three core strategies: introducing biological nitrification inhibition into maize, modifying root architecture for improved nitrogen uptake, and enhancing recruitment of diazotrophs to facilitate biological nitrogen fixation. Performance runs through March 10, 2030 at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tennessee.

The Leland Stanford Junior University serves as a sub-grantee responsible for engineering maize root architecture through synthetic genetic circuits. The Stanford team, led by Jennifer Brophy's lab, will modify three key root traits—root depth, root density, and root hair development—to reduce nitrous oxide emissions. Work includes adapting existing synthetic genetic circuit toolkits to maize by optimizing promoter sequences and transcription factor composition, testing modified NIMPLY, AND, NOT, and BUFFER gates in maize protoplasts and hairy root assays, and delivering maize lines with quantitative variation in root traits alongside optimized synthetic genetic circuit tools for maize. The University of Tennessee's Lenaghan lab will receive synthetic genetic circuit constructs for stable transformation into maize plants. The sub-award to Stanford was obligated on June 29, 2026.

University of tennessee: knoxville. New award control number: 3405-1543 FOA number: DE-FOA-0003405 (teosynte) project title: ''SYN-fix: synthetic biology to improve nitrogen cycling in the maize rhizosphere.'' this project aims to reduce nitrous oxide (N2ON2O) emissions and enhance nitrogen (N2N 2) transfer in maize by employing synthetic biology to engineer both the plant and its associated rhizosphere microbes. Key strategies include introducing biological nitrification inhibition (BNI) into maize, modifying root architecture for improved n uptake, and enhancing the recruitment of diazotrophs to facilitate biological nitrogen fixation (BNF).