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Researchers Develop New Tools to Turn Grain Crops into Biosensors

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Plant-based detection systems could be used to monitor chemical exposure in agricultural settings

 

ST. LOUIS, MO, January 6, 2026 — A collaborative team of researchers from the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, the University of Florida, Gainesville and University of Iowa have developed groundbreaking tools that allow grasses—including major grain crops like corn—to act as living biosensors capable of detecting minute amounts of chemicals in the field.

 

Principal Investigators Dmitri Nusinow, PhD, and Malia Gehan, PhD, led the effort to engineer grasses that produce a visible purple pigment, anthocyanin, in response to specific chemical cues. When paired with advanced imaging and analytical systems, these plants can report extremely low levels of chemical exposure, pollution, or other adverse conditions that may impact crop and human health.

Their findings, Remote Sensing of Endogenous Pigmentation by Inducible Synthetic Circuits in Grasses, were recently published in the Plant Biotechnology Journal.

 

Turning Plants Into “Sentinels”

“What if plants could alert farmers to adverse conditions or unwanted chemicals?” posited the research team. Although researchers have begun exploring plant-based biosensors, most tools have been developed in dicot species such as Arabidopsis thaliana. Grass species—monocots—have lagged behind despite being the foundation of global grain production. Plant pigments, such as carotenoids, betalains and anthocyanins are being adapted as non-invasive visual reporters to monitor gene expression in plants.

 
Setaria viridis, a grass species similar to corn and sorghum, engineered to produce a natural purple pigment, anthocyanin, for use as a visual reporter on the presence of chemicals in the environment. Wild-type Setaria viridis is on the left (green plants) and the engineered plants are on the right (purple plants).
 

Nusinow and Gehan successfully adapted a ligand-inducible genetic circuit that activates the plant’s own anthocyanin pathway in the C4 model grass Setaria viridis. These new tools could be used to trigger grasses like corn to make a purple pigment, anthocyanin, when exposed to specific chemicals.

Key advances include:

  • Identification of two transcription factors that can be co-expressed from a single transcript to trigger anthocyanin production.
  • Demonstration of both constitutive and ligand-inducible pigment production in protoplasts and whole plants.
  • Development of hyperspectral imaging and discriminative analysis techniques that non-destructively detect pigmentation changes from a near-remote distance.

 

Together, these advancements demonstrate a robust system for precise, remote sensing of chemical exposure in grasses—paving the way for crop plants that can actively communicate environmental conditions.

 

“Grain crops are at the heart of global food security,” said Nusinow. “Having plants act as sentinels in the field could increase food security and improve the sustainability of agriculture.”

This research represents an important step toward plant-based monitoring systems capable of detecting contamination, chemical drift, or other environmental factors that influence crop performance. As detection tools become more sophisticated, the ability for plants to “report” their own stressors could transform agricultural management and resilience.

 

Tools Available for Community Use

In support of open science, both the molecular tools to build these sensors for grasses, and the methods for sensitive detection of changes in pigmentation have been deposited into public repositories enabling other scientists to build on this work and accelerate innovation in plant synthetic biology.

 

“We wanted to build a system that other researchers could easily use. Making our constructs and imaging approaches publicly available will accelerate innovation across the community,” said Gehan.

 

Collaborators on the project included, Alina Zare, PhD, professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, director, Artificial Intelligence and Informatics Research Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville; and Susan Meerdink, PhD, assistant professor, School for Earth, Environment, and Sustainability, University of Iowa. This work was supported by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, HR001118C01327.

 
 

About The Donald Danforth Plant Science Center

Founded in 1998, the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center is a nonprofit research institute with a mission to improve the human condition through plant science. Research, education and outreach aim to have an impact at the nexus of food security and the environment and position the St. Louis region as a world center for plant science. The Center’s work is funded through competitive grants from many sources, including the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Energy, the Gates Foundation, and through the support of individuals and corporations. For more information, visit: https://www.danforthcenter.org/

 
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