Engineering microbes for the production of strigolactones

Strigolactones are an incredible group of plant hormones that are of interest as agricultural chemicals to control parasitic weed plants and enhance crop productivity. Therefore, strigolactones have potential to improve food security; however, their use as agricultural chemicals is impeded by their prohibitively expensive chemical synthesis. Rebecca is working to engineer microbes with the biochemical pathways to convert renewable feedstocks into strigolactones, with the goal of creating a high titre, scalable, and economically feasible production method. 

​Rebecca studied her bachelor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (Honours) at the University of Melbourne. After completing her degree in 2012, she worked as a research assistant at Bio21 Institute at the University of Melbourne, studying protein homeostasis and its dysregulation in neurodegenerative diseases. Rebecca began her PhD at AIBN in 2016.