Programmable microalgae: Engineering sense-decide-adapt systems for dynamic environmental performance.

Programmable microalgae with engineered sense-decide-adapt systems can expand their environmental performance envelope under realistic conditions.

• Why it matters: Understanding how to improve microalgal productivity in fluctuating environments is crucial for industrial applications, yet current strains are optimized only under fixed conditions.
• What they did: The study introduces the Environmental Performance Envelope (EPE) framework and employs genome editing, biosensors, and single-cell screening to assess whether engineering broadens the operating space or shifts the optimum, focusing on response kinetics, recovery, heterogeneity, and stability.
• The result: Findings suggest that engineering can expand the environmental performance envelope, enabling more robust algal biomanufacturing and potentially informing the design of other microbial and plant systems for variable environments.