The sheer magnitude of soil erosion annually, as we peruse the online news, left us utterly astounded.According to statistics, approximately one-third of the e arth's land is plagued by severe erosion, resulting in an alarming annual loss of around 60 billion tons of precious topsoil. This not only affects the lives of millions of people and communities. More importantly, given agriculture's status as one of humanity's most vital sources of sustenance, we would be confronted with a chain reaction of reduced agricultural capacity, unstable food supplies, increased water pollution, damaged infrastructure, ecological damage, increased economic losses, and social instability.
Why does soil erosion take palce? The natural process of soil development for plant growth requires a significant amount of time under normal circumstances. However, intensified human activities have accelerated soil erosion, surpassing the rate of soil formation.
In an effort to solve this problem, we found inspiration form a biological approach - planting vegetation. The reason for this is that plants have the ability to decelerate water flow, enhance soil structural stability, and remediate the soil through their intricate root systems. However, its viability and efficacy remain unclear, which thus needs us to further study and explore.
When we ventured into those regions plagued by severe soil erosion and engaged in heartfelt conversations with local farmers, the stark reality became even more astonishing .
Soil erosion not only results in surface land loss, but also deeply impairs soil fertility and structure. Valuable nutrients and organic matter are washed away, leaving the soil arid, compacted but also severely affecting the root development of plants. In this inhospitable environment, cultivating healthy plants thus becomes a formidable challenge.
As we all know, plants play an important role in maintaining the health of the land. They slow the erosion of rain, help the soil retain water, and strengthen the stability of the soil through a network of roots, thereby preventing further erosion. But in places where soil erosion is severe, even tough plants struggle to take root, let alone perform the function they have to protect the land, due to poor soil conditions.
For those farmers who depend on the land for their livelihood, this is really adding insult to injury. Not only are they at risk of losing their cultivated land, but they must also struggle to find new farming methods and strategies to cope with deteriorating land conditions and ensure their livelihoods are maintained.
In the barren land, how to get the plants to grow has become our first challenge. We came into contact with a senior agricultural researcher, Dr. Gao. The most important thing, he tells us, is to make sure the seeds can germinate in such an environment. As long as plants are able to grow successfully, they will naturally help stabilize the soil and gradually improve the fertility of the soil.He also suggested that we use plant hormones to promote seed germination. Among many plant hormones, IAA is particularly valued because of its stimulation effect on seed germination. Auxin, mainly known as Indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), is an important hormone found in plants and has significant effects on plant growth and development. The effect of IAA on seed germination and plant root growth was particularly prominent.
However, the preparation and application of IAA are affected by many factors, which also shows that IAA can promote seed germination and bring some side effects, including IAA itself is easy to be decomposed, difficult to transport and storage. Additionally, the amount of IAA must be strictly controlled, because excessive IAA may have adverse effects on the normal growth of plants. We are looking for an economical and eco-friendly way to effectively promote seed growth in a natural environment.
Despite the above limitations of IAA, based on our research and in-depth communication with agricultural experts, we believe that under the current conditions, IAA is still the best option to solve the problem of soil erosion and promote seed germination. Therefore, we decided to adopt IAA as the primary means of stimulating seed germination.
The preparation and application of IAA face multiple constraints, including the high cost of synthesis, the difficulty of achieving large-scale production, and the potential environmental impact. In addition, IAA itself has the characteristics of easy decomposition, not easy to transport and storage complex. Given these challenges, we made a deliberate decision to use E. coli to produce IAA. This strategy can help us overcome these problems, reduce costs, increase production efficiency and reduce potential risks to the environment, providing a more viable solution for the preparation and application of IAA.
Through genetic engineering technology, we introduced the genes of the key enzymes of IAA production in plants into E. coli, so that it can produce IAA. We then mixed this engineered E. coli with ungerminated seeds. In theory, E. coli is able to grow in the soil while releasing IAA, thus promoting seed germination and growth.
Compared with traditional seeds, the germination rate and germination speed of the seeds can be significantly improved if our engineered E. coli is mixed with seeds. We visited several farmers and talked to them about our products. This exchange not only brought positive feedback to our IAA products, let us know the shortcomings of our products, but also gave us other agricultural inspiration. IAA does promote seed germination, but in areas with severe soil erosion, seeds may be blown away or washed away before they can germinate. The reason for this is that the soil is very loose in areas with heavy soil erosion, which made us realize that it is not enough to just improve the germination rate, we also need to address the problem of soil looseness and lack of stickiness.
At the same time, most farmers have serious concerns about our use of E. coli to produce IAA. They believe that using bacteria to help grow crops could have an impact on the crops themselves. For example, they are concerned about whether the crops grown in this environment are safe for people to use, and they also concerned that whether it will have negative effects on the surrounding environment.
Aside from this, they also introduced us to some traditional planting methods. Traditional methods of seeding depend mainly on human and livestock. Now, with the progress of science and technology, there are more and more automated machines on the market for sowing. But these devices are generally expensive, and many small and medium-sized farmers, especially small and start-up farmers, cannot afford these prices. We began to think: Why not design a convenient and low-cost seeding machine? So we set up a dedicated hardware team to take care of this project.
We also learned about a variety of commonly used economic crops and plant species that help prevent soil erosion, such as ryegrass and tall fescue, which laid a solid foundation for our subsequent business expansion plans.
After determining the feasibility of hybrid germination and considering potential technical issues, we developed a preliminary plan. In the start-up stage of the company, we plan to set up a production base in China and focus on the domestic market. With the steady growth of the company, we will consider attracting PE/VC investment, and even seek the opportunity to go public, and gradually expand into the international market. The commercial project aims to sell the seeds around the world to help farmers around the world solve the problem of low seed germination rates and long germination cycles. Through physical investigation, visits and communication with some local farmers and experts, and the implementation of a series of hybridization technology principles to carry out experiments, we determined that the IAA engineering bacteria and seed mixed germination can correspond with each other.
In the field investigation, our team deeply experienced that the problem of seed and soil loss caused by soil erosion is not only a predicament at the agricultural level, but also related to the long-term ecological health. Therefore, how to ensure the stable growth of seeds in this complex environment has become the direction of our joint efforts. So we thought of a series of ways to control the growth of the seeds. The first idea we came up with was to cover the seeds on the ground with a layer of straw, which could not only prevent the seeds from being washed away, but also keep the seeds warm, which could provide the temperature for the seeds to grow well. The second strategy we came up with is to make the soil soft, and then set aside a part of the soil cover according to the size of the land, so that the seeds can be covered when they are scattered into the soil, so as to prevent the seeds from germinating when the sun is too toxic to burn. The soil cover of 0.5 cm is enough, and the effect of this can also make the seeds grow better and better.
Beyond that, safety is always our primary concern. We are aware of the potential risks associated with the use of engineered bacteria. To this end, we take strict measures to ensure that the engineered bacteria do not cause any pollution or damage to the external environment during the course of our experimental and commercial plans.
After our interviews with local farmers, we got a lot of feedback from them, the most important of which was the problem of soil viscosity. Because the region has suffered from soil erosion for a long time, the local soil has lost the characteristics that generally help plants grow, which means that seeds in such an environment are difficult to survive and germinate successfully, and they may be washed away before they can take root. In order to find a solution, we once again contacted Dr. Gao of Agronomy and conducted an in-depth discussion online.
After elaborating on the challenges we have faced, Dr. Gao introduced the concept of "bacterial soil crust". Bacterial soil crust refers to a thin film or membrane-like structure formed by microorganisms on the surface of soil. Bacterial soil crust plays an important role in soil ecosystem, including protecting soil, enhancing soil stability, and promoting soil water retention. And he tells us that EPS plays a key role in bacterial soil crusts. They can provide the adhesion of microorganisms to soil particles and promote the settlement and growth of microorganisms on the soil surface. Due to the low EPS content in soil erosion, he suggested that we adopt biotechnological method to increase the generation of EPS in response to this problem, and proposed the strategy of cloning galU gene. This gene is responsible for encoding an enzyme in some bacteria that increases the production of EPS, which in turn improves soil stickiness in the form of biological crusts, helping seeds to germinate better.
When we turn the conversation to how to ensure that engineered E. coli does not leak and is ecologically safe, experts suggest that we consider including a suicide gene system as a safety valve. He recommends using arabinose promoters to bind the mazF suicide gene. MazF is a widely studied antitoxin system that specifically cuts mRNA, causing engineered bacteria to malfunction, which in turn causes engineered bacteria to die. This mechanism ensures that once the engineered bacteria escape, they will self-destruct, avoiding potential contamination of the environment.
We adopted the advice from experts and carry out the design of the second generation of our product.
On the basis of company consultation and expert advice, our team brainbrained offline and finally decided to use genetic engineering technology to modify E. coli to produce IAA, so as to promote plant growth and germination. At the same time, in order to solve the problem of insufficient soil viscosity, we created a biological crust system and used EPS to ensure soil viscosity. With biosafety in mind, we have also deliberately engineered suicide genes to ensure that these modified strains only function under prescribed conditions. This integrated strategy aims to achieve a more sustainable approach to agriculture and soil management.
The structure of our ultimate design is a concentric circle, shown below.
After the field visit presented in 2. Field visit to the soil erosion area, we interviewed the governments in the soil erosion area. In the process, we learned that the state of the soil in these areas is extremely poor. Land desertification is serious, and the ecosystem is seriously affected. At the same time, due to the local economy is not developed, many young people opportunities choose to work in other places for opportunities . This has led to the phenomenon of "empty nesters" and "left-behind children". So we decided to start a public welfare program to support these areas. Due to time constraints, we had online meetings with government officials and soil experts in those areas. Based on the summary and reflection of the meeting, we finalized the soil and water restoration and economic development plan and determined the "land restoration first, agriculture revitalization second " (see "Charity Project" in the Business section or check the link below for details). Our first concern is land restoration. We plan to use modern ecological technologies, combined with IAA products and crop mulch, to restore soil organic microbiological and microbial diversity. When the land has recovered to a certain extent, we will restart agricultural activities.
As soil erosion becomes more and more severe in recent years, it has caused huge losses to farmers and the national economy. Soil erosion is caused by natural factors, but at the same time, human damage to nature leads to soil erosion problems, such as excessive deforestation, improper land use, destruction of ground vegetation, unreasonable farming techniques, overgrazing and so on. In order to call people's attention to the problem of soil erosion and promote our products at the same time, our team used spare time to carry out a public interest publicity activity offline.
We hope that the public can pay attention to such a serious problem as soil erosion, and at the same time, we hope that people can learn more about soil erosion from a scientific point of view. In the course of the activity, we interviewed different people, with different ages and occupations. We found that some middle-aged people and students with higher education level understand and pay more attention to soil erosion, but most elderly people and people with lower education level do not understand and do not pay special attention to soil erosion. However, after we patiently explain to them, they have a new understanding of soil erosion, and believe that everyone should pay attention to protecting the land. At the same time, they also support our products, and even give us suggestions for improvement.
In this public welfare activity, our main purpose is to call for more attention to soil erosion and improve people's understanding of this daunting phenomenon . We hope that in the future, more iGEM teams will follow our lead and make the community pay more attention to environmental protection, thus protecting our environment. We learned a lot along the way, got some advice from some people, and what we need to focus on in the future to make it work.
In July of this year, in order to better carry out business projects, we discussed business cooperation with Thinker-Shenzhen. Thinker-Shenzhen's products are organic fertilizers, which can be combined with our product portfolio to form an agricultural industry chain. Moreover, both of our teams' projects involve plants, so we decided to do some plant-related experiments with our respective projects after discussion. Commercially, the two sides have had many offline conversations and online meetings, and finally finalized the cooperation agreement and program. See the cooperation page for details
Now the farms cover more and more area, which means that more manpower is needed to cultivate the land. This is undoubtedly very difficult for those farmers who have small families and can not afford to employ people. Then they will want to use machines to replace labor, but the cost of machines such as planters in the market today is particularly high, which must not be within their consideration. Our team discovered this problem through previous interviews with farmers and decided to produce hardware that was both efficient and inexpensive.
In order to increase the planting area more efficiently in the soil erosion area, we need to make a hardware device to ensure that the seed can be effectively dispersed while saving manpower. So our team brainstormed offline, we wanted to make sure that our hardware would work effectively and not cost much to buy. We found a lot of information on the Internet and conducted many tests to finally design what we think is the ideal hardware device.
Details are on the Hardware Wiki page