If a project aims to better serve society and achieve true implementation and promotion, exploring commercialization is indispensable. Commercialization not only helps us identify target users and define market positioning, but also drives research outcomes from the laboratory to the farmland, creating real value for farmers and society.

However, due to time and resource constraints, our work this year has mainly focused on completing the project’s commercial positioning, analyzing market needs and pain points, and proposing an initial value proposition. Although we have not yet carried out in-depth commercialization activities, this positioning has laid a solid foundation for future collaboration, investment, and industrialization.

Through this step, we hope to provide future teams and industry partners with a clear direction: how to maintain scientific innovation while advancing the project into real-world applications, enabling more people to benefit from synthetic biology solutions.

In soybean–wheat rotation systems, farmers commonly rely on highly effective herbicides such as chlorimuron-ethyl to ensure stable soybean yields. Although inexpensive and fast-acting, these herbicides persist in the soil for a long time, causing severe phytotoxicity to subsequent crops such as wheat, corn, and rice. This leads to reduced germination rates and lower yields, while also disrupting the soil micro-ecosystem and increasing environmental risks. Farmers often lack awareness of the risks associated with herbicide residues, resulting in severely constrained land use efficiency and agricultural sustainability.

Using synthetic biology, we engineered E. coli with three functional modules:

• Degradation system: expresses the PnbA enzyme to break down chlorimuron-ethyl residues and reduce phytotoxicity.
• IAA synthesis system: secretes indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) to enhance seed germination and seedling vigor.
• Suicide system: employs a low-temperature–inducible promoter to express T4 holin, ensuring that the strain self-destructs after completing its task, thereby maintaining environmental safety.
• The final product is delivered in the form of freeze-dried bacterial powder. Farmers only need to spray it 7–10 days before wheat sowing to achieve both residue removal and yield enhancement.

Reduces yield loss risks caused by herbicide residues, improves crop yield and land-use efficiency, while remaining simple to use and cost-effective.