The liverwort Marchantia polymorpha as a chassis for plant synthetic biology

Synthetic Biology is an emerging field that employs engineering principles for constructing genetic systems. It is providing a conceptual and practical framework for the systematic engineering of gene expression and behaviour in microbes, but also shows great potential for the engineering of multicellular systems. This approach is well suited to the modification of simple plant systems such as Marchantia polymorpha. We are transferring molecular genetic, visualisation and software tools from Arabidopsis to Marchantia, to allow clear visualization of individual cells inside living plant tissues and have the means to manipulate them. The Marchantia genome is an important new resource for the tools building, analysis and engineering of plant form. We are helping to develop a common syntax for plant DNA parts that can be applied for tool development in Marchantia.