Home Department: Chemical Engineering
Mentor: Ellen Rim (Chemical Engineering)

"Directed Evolution of a Strigolactone-Degrading Enzyme to Combat Striga Infestations in African Cereals"

Striga is a genus of parasitic weeds impacting over two-thirds of African cropland, and the lives of 300 million people. Striga seeds only germinate when they detect strigolactones, chemical signals naturally released by crop roots to recruit beneficial soil microbes. Curran’s research uses protein and microbial engineering to sense and degrade excess soil strigolactones, preserving necessary signals for healthy plant-microbe interactions while preventing striga germination. Natural strigolactone-sensing proteins from host plants will be redesigned via directed evolution to degrade excess strigolactones, with performance measured by liquid chromatography of soil extracts and a strigolactone-sensitive yeast survival assay.