Synthetic biology advances towards a bio-based society in the era of artificial intelligence

Abstract

Synthetic biology is a rapidly emerging field with broad underlying applications in health, industry, agriculture, or environment, enabling sustainable solutions for unmet needs of modern society. With the very recent addition of artificial intelligence (AI) approaches, this field is now growing at a rate that can help reach the envisioned goals of bio-based society within the next few decades. Integrating AI with plant-based technologies, such as protein engineering, phytochemicals production, plant system engineering, or microbiome engineering, potentially disruptive applications have already been reported. These include enzymatic synthesis of new-to-nature molecules, bioelectricity generation, or biomass applications as construction material. Thus, in the not-so-distant future, synthetic biologists will help attain the overarching goal of a sustainable yet efficient production system for every aspect of society.