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Background: In this project, we propose to explore the modular characteristic of spider silk proteins, through synthetic biology techniques, by combining and directing its properties to the desired application. The aim of this project is to generate a modular bionanomaterial able to immobilize proteins. This bionanomaterial will be composed of modular recombinant proteins from spider silk, which will be the immobilization support to other proteins, in this project an antimicrobial protein (enzybiotic). By combining these proteins and their properties, the primary focus will be the use of this technology for the development of artificial skin for burn victims. New information: The recombinant proteins, spider silk proteins and enzybiotics, will be expressed in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii strains by nuclear transformation. Each recombinant strain will express a different protein, which will contain the N- and C-terminal polymerization domains from native spider silk proteins. These domains are essential to the polymerization step and, subsequently, for production of a material very similar to silk. This material will be evaluated regarding its antimicrobial and mechanical properties, as well as the system productivity. These results may shed some light on spider silk-based immobilization support effectiveness, even for other biotechnological applications, such as the one idealized here.

High-throughput experiments in plants are hindered by long generation times and high costs. To address these challenges, we present an optimized pipeline for Agrobacterium tumefaciens transformation and simplified a protocol to obtain stable transgenic lines of the model liverwort Marchantia polymorpha, paving the way for efficient high-throughput experiments for plant synthetic biology and other applications. Our protocol involves freeze-thaw Agrobacterium transformation method in 6-well plates that can be adapted to robotic automation. Using the Opentrons open-source platform, we implemented a semi-automated protocol showing similar efficiency compared to manual manipulation. Additionally, we have streamlined and simplified the process of stable transformation and selection of M. polymorpha, reducing cost, time, and manual labour without compromising transformation efficiency. The addition of sucrose in the selection media significantly enhances the production of gemmae, accelerating the generation of isogenic plants. We believe these protocols have the potential to facilitate high-throughput screenings in diverse plant species and represent a significant step towards the full automation of plant transformation pipelines. This approach allows testing ∼100 constructs per month, using conventional plant tissue culture facilities. We recently demonstrated the successful implementation of this protocol for screening hundreds of fluorescent reporters in Marchantia gemmae.

Standards play a crucial role in ensuring consistency, interoperability, and efficiency of communication across various disciplines. In the field of synthetic biology, the Synthetic Biology Open Language (SBOL) Visual standard was introduced in 2013 to establish a structured framework for visually representing genetic designs. Over the past decade, SBOL Visual has evolved from a simple set of 21 glyphs into a comprehensive diagrammatic language for biological designs. This perspective reflects on the first ten years of SBOL Visual, tracing its evolution from inception to version 3.0. We examine the standard's adoption over time, highlighting its growing use in scientific publications, the development of supporting visualization tools, and ongoing efforts to enhance clarity and accessibility in communicating genetic design information. While trends in adoption show steady increases, achieving full compliance and use of best practices will require additional efforts. Looking ahead, the continued refinement of SBOL Visual and broader community engagement will be essential to ensuring its long-term value as the field of synthetic biology develops.