On 18 and 19 June, the Botanical Garden of Valencia hosted the IV Severo Ochoa Conference, an international meeting devoted to exploring the links between evolution, synthetic biology and new innovation strategies in plant biotechnology.
Entitled “Evolutionary Strategies in Plant Biotechnology. From natural selection to synthetic innovation”, the conference brought together researchers from leading international institutions to discuss how knowledge of the evolution of plant metabolic, signalling and developmental systems can help expand the possibilities of plant biotechnology.
The event was organised by the Spanish Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (SEBBM), in collaboration with the Carmen and Severo Ochoa Foundation, and featured strong participation from the Institute for Plant Molecular and Cell Biology (IBMCP, CSIC-UPV).
IBMCP researchers Miguel Ángel Blázquez, Juan Carbonell and Cristina Ferrándiz were part of the local organising committee, while Pablo Vera served on the scientific committee together with Ralph Bock, from the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Plant Physiology, and Edwige Moyroud, from the Sainsbury Laboratory at the University of Cambridge.
Over two days, the programme addressed topics including the evolution of plant signalling, plant–microbe interactions, metabolic engineering, optogenetics, synthetic biology, precision genome editing and the design of novel plant traits beyond evolutionary constraints.
Invited speakers included specialists from institutions such as the Max Planck Institute for Plant Physiology, the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding, the University of Cambridge, CNB-CSIC, CEPLAS and the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology in Beijing. The programme featured contributions from Roberto Solano, Rubén Garrido-Oter, Matías Zurbriggen, Alison Smith, Ralph Bock, Edwige Moyroud, Jake Harris and Caixia Gao, among others.
IBMCP’s scientific contribution was also well represented in the programme. Diego Orzáez delivered the lecture “Exploring Novel Plant Traits Beyond Evolutionary Constraints with Bioluminescence as a Probe”, focused on the exploration of new plant traits through biotechnological tools. Meanwhile, Juan-José Llorens-Gámez presented a selected short talk on targeted gene replacement using CRISPR in Arabidopsis thaliana, an approach aimed at producing artificial microRNAs and achieving efficient gene silencing.
In addition to the scientific sessions, the meeting included poster presentations and discussion spaces that encouraged interaction among participants and fostered new connections between teams working in evolutionary biology, plant molecular biology and biotechnology.
The IV Severo Ochoa Conference highlighted the potential of combining evolutionary perspectives with synthetic biology tools to generate innovative solutions in plant science. This interdisciplinary dialogue is particularly relevant for advancing towards more sustainable, resilient and high-value crops capable of addressing future agronomic, food and environmental challenges.
The IBMCP would like to thank all speakers and participants, as well as the SEBBM, the Carmen and Severo Ochoa Foundation, the scientific committee, the local organising team and the collaborating institutions that made this edition possible.
