[3S01e] 09. GteX - Part 3

5:30 PM - 5:50 PM JST(8:30 AM - 8:50 AM UTC)

[3GteX-14] Building a Marchantia polymorpha-Based Biomanufacturing Platform for Carbon Neutrality

○Kimitsune Ishizaki¹, Kenta C. Moriya¹, Yuuki Sakai¹, Miki Mizuta², Rhohei Koyama², Masahiro Yuasa³, Masataka Kajikawa⁴, Miho Takemura⁵, Masaharu Mizutani² (1. Graduate School of Science, Kobe University (Japan), 2. Graduate School of Agricultural Science, Kobe University (Japan), 3. Graduate School of Human Development and Environment, Kobe University (Japan), 4. Faculty of Biology-Oriented Science and Technology, Kindai University (Japan), 5. Research Institute for Bioresources and Biotechnology, Ishikawa Prefectural University (Japan))

Keywords:

bryophytes,synthetic biology,bio-manufacturing,photosynthesis

Marchantia polymorpha, a non-vascular bryophyte representing an early-diverging lineage of extant land plants, provides unique insights into the evolutionary origins of terrestrial plant life. Owing to its relatively small genome, dominant haploid life cycle, ease of cultivation, and high experimental accessibility, Marchantia has become a powerful model system in plant biology.Building on this foundation of fundamental research, we are now exploring how Marchantia can serve as a next-generation platform for sustainable biomanufacturing. As a photosynthetic organism, it directly captures atmospheric CO2 and converts it into diverse organic compounds. Importantly, despite its morphological simplicity, Marchantia retains conserved core pathways of plant specialized metabolism, including phenylpropanoid and terpenoid biosynthesis. This shared biochemical architecture with vascular plants provides a robust foundation for rational metabolic engineering and pathway reconstruction.Its rapid design-build-test-learn (DBTL) cycle, enabled by efficient nuclear and chloroplast genome engineering, CRISPR-based genome editing, inducible gene expression systems, and multigene expression technologies, allows accelerated redesign of metabolic networks within a short time frame. Furthermore, its ability to grow quickly and propagate clonally through gemmae enables the development of scalable, controlled biomass production systems.By integrating evolutionary biology, synthetic biology, and metabolic engineering, we aim to establish a Marchantia-based biomanufacturing platform that supports carbon-neutral production of high-value natural products. In this talk, I will discuss how fundamental research on early land plants is being translated into innovative strategies for environmentally sustainable biotechnology, positioning Marchantia polymorpha as a promising photosynthetic chassis for a carbon-neutral future.