ST. LOUIS, MO, January 6, 2026 — In a pioneering effort, researchers from the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, the University of Florida, Gainesville, and the University of Iowa have unveiled new tools that enable grasses, including key grain crops like corn, to function as living biosensors. These plants can now detect minute chemical quantities in their environment, potentially revolutionizing agricultural monitoring.
Led by Principal Investigators Dmitri Nusinow, PhD, and Malia Gehan, PhD, the team engineered grasses to produce a visible purple pigment, anthocyanin, in response to specific chemical stimuli. This innovation, when combined with advanced imaging and analytical systems, allows these plants to signal the presence of low-level chemical exposures, pollution, or other harmful conditions affecting both crop and human health. Their groundbreaking findings were published in the Plant Biotechnology Journal under the title “Remote Sensing of Endogenous Pigmentation by Inducible Synthetic Circuits in Grasses.”
Turning Plants Into “Sentinels”
“What if plants could alert farmers to adverse conditions or unwanted chemicals?” This question guided the research team as they explored the potential of plant-based biosensors. Historically, most biosensor tools have been developed in dicot species like Arabidopsis thaliana, leaving grass species—monocots—behind, despite their crucial role in global grain production.
Nusinow and Gehan adapted a ligand-inducible genetic circuit to activate the anthocyanin pathway in the C4 model grass Setaria viridis. This advancement enables grasses such as corn to produce anthocyanin when exposed to specific chemicals, effectively turning them into environmental sentinels.
Key Advances in Biosensor Technology
- Identification of two transcription factors that can be co-expressed from a single transcript to trigger anthocyanin production.
- Demonstration of both constitutive and ligand-inducible pigment production in protoplasts and whole plants.
- Development of hyperspectral imaging and discriminative analysis techniques for non-destructive detection of pigmentation changes from a near-remote distance.
These advancements establish a robust system for precise, remote sensing of chemical exposure in grasses, paving the way for crop plants that can actively communicate environmental conditions.
“Grain crops are at the heart of global food security,” said Nusinow. “Having plants act as sentinels in the field could increase food security and improve the sustainability of agriculture.”
Implications for Agriculture and Environmental Monitoring
This research marks a significant step toward plant-based monitoring systems capable of detecting contamination, chemical drift, or other environmental factors that influence crop performance. As detection tools become more sophisticated, plants’ ability to “report” their stressors could transform agricultural management and resilience.
The tools developed by the team are available for community use, supporting the open science movement. Both the molecular tools for building these sensors and the methods for detecting pigmentation changes have been deposited into public repositories, enabling other scientists to build on this work.
“We wanted to build a system that other researchers could easily use. Making our constructs and imaging approaches publicly available will accelerate innovation across the community,” said Gehan.
Collaboration and Support
The project was a collaborative effort, including contributions from Alina Zare, PhD, professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Florida, Gainesville, and director of the Artificial Intelligence and Informatics Research Institute, and Susan Meerdink, PhD, assistant professor at the School for Earth, Environment, and Sustainability, University of Iowa. The research received support from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, under contract HR001118C01327.
About the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center
Founded in 1998, the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center is a nonprofit research institute dedicated to improving the human condition through plant science. The Center focuses on food security and environmental sustainability, striving to position itself at the forefront of research, education, and outreach efforts.
As the agricultural sector faces increasing challenges from climate change and environmental degradation, innovations like these biosensor tools offer promising solutions for enhancing crop resilience and ensuring food security worldwide.
