Lessons From CABBI: Advancing Vegetative Oil Production in C₄ Crops Through a Vertically Integrated DBTL Framework.

Authors

Daniel Lunn, Kiyoul Park, Narendra Naik Deshavath, Jia Dong, Kankshita Swaminathan, Jeremy Guest, Andrew D B Leakey, Nathaniel M Butler, Jorg Schwender, Vijay Singh, John Shanklin, Fredy Altpeter, Edgar B Cahoon

Published in

Plant biotechnology journal. Oct 28, 2026. Epub Oct 28, 2026.

Abstract

The global demand for renewable liquid fuels and biobased chemicals has intensified interest in engineering high-biomass C₄ grasses to accumulate triacylglycerol (TAG) in vegetative tissues. Achieving this goal requires coordinated solutions across molecular biology, crop science, chemical engineering, and life cycle assessment, disciplines that rarely operate within a single research program. The Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation (CABBI) was established to provide this integration through a Design-Build-Test-Learn (DBTL) framework applied to three C₄ feedstocks: saccharum (Saccharum spp. hybrids), sorghum (Sorghum bicolor), and miscanthus (Miscanthus × giganteus). Through iterative DBTL cycles, CABBI has produced transgenic saccharum and sorghum lines with substantially elevated levels of vegetative TAG, with multi-location field trials having confirmed stable trait heritability and lipid yields. We have also leveraged our integration to develop a dual system biorefinery that co-recovers vegetative lipids with fermentable sugars at levels sufficient to achieve industrial ethanol titres. Importantly, this fully integrated cross-disciplinary data integration model has highlighted the key constraints currently preventing TAG-rich vegetative oil from achieving commercial viability as: (i) active lipid turnover, (ii) photosynthetic trade-offs, (iii) spatial misexpression, and (iv) bioprocessing challenges. CABBI uses emerging technologies, including biofoundry-enabled construct screening, precision genome editing, and machine-learning-assisted regulatory design, to further accelerate DBTL cycles. More broadly, this work illustrates how integrative centre-scale research that unites diverse expertise can accelerate discovery and translation, positioning these systems to expand agricultural markets and contribute to a more secure and resilient bioeconomy.

PMID:
42947611
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 28 Oct 2026.

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