GROWING ENOUGH FOOD MAY SOON BECOME MUCH MORE DIFFICULT. INCREASING CLIMATE EXTREMES WILL CAUSE MORE CROP FAILURES AND THE POPULATION WILL GROW TO 9.8 BILLION IN ONLY 30 YEARS. THESE CHALLENGES CAN BE ADDRESSED BY BREEDING MORE RESILIENCE INTO OUR HIGH PRODUCING CROP VARIETIES, BUT DOING THIS BY TRADITIONAL BREEDING TAKES UP TO 7 YEARS. THIS CAN BE REDUCED TO JUST 1 YEAR BY A KIND OF GENOME EDITING (THE ABILITY TO MAKE CHANGES TO GENES) THAT CAN DIRECTLY CHANGE AN INEFFICIENT GENE IN A HIGH PRODUCING CROP INTO A MUCH MORE EFFICIENT VERSION OF THE SAME GENE FOUND IN OTHER CROP VARIETIES. THIS KIND OF GENOME EDITING REQUIRES A DNA REPAIR PROCESS PRESENT IN ALL CELLS KNOWN AS HOMOLOGY DIRECTED REPAIR OR HDR. HOWEVER, HDR DOES NOT OCCUR VERY OFTEN IN PLANT CELLS, AND THEREFORE GENOME EDITING USING HDR ARE TOO INEFFICIENT FOR BREEDING. THUS, THE GOAL OF THIS PROJECT IS TO EXPLORE STRATEGIES TO MAKE HDR MORE ACTIVE IN PLANT CELLS AND BROADEN OUR ABILITIES TO IMPROVE GENES IN CROPS TO BE BOTH RESILIENT AND HIGH PRODUCING. TO MAKE HDR MORE ACTIVE IN PLANT CELLS, I WILL EITHER APPLY DIFFERENT CHEMICALS THAT ARE THEORETICALLY EXPECTED TO IMPROVE HDR ACTIVITY OR ADJUSTING THE ACTIVITY OF DIFFERENT GENES THAT IMPROVE HDR. THESE TWO KINDS OF TREATMENTS WILL BE TESTED IN AN EXPERIMENT DESIGNED TO RAPIDLY SCORE HDR ACTIVITY. LEAVES OF TOBACCO (N. TABACUM) HAVE A BROKEN SIGNAL GENE WILL BE INJECTED WITH GENOME EDITING DNA AND A WORKING SIGNAL GENE. IN EACH CELL THAT RECEIVES THE INJECTION, HDR MAY OCCUR AND SWAP THE BROKEN SIGNAL GENE WITH THE WORKING VERSION WHICH CAN THEN BE MEASURED. THIS WILL BE PERFORMED WITH EACH TREATMENT,THE CHEMICALS AND HDR ACTIVATING GENE ADJUSTMENTS, WITH THE EXPECTATION THAT SOME MAY INCREASE HDR VS WITHOUT USING THEM. THE PROJECT WILL RESULT IN SCIENTIFIC PUBLICATIONS DETAILING EACH TREATMENT'S EFFICACY ON IMPROVING HDR ACTIVITY. OTHER PLANT GENETICISTS AND BREEDERS WILL USE THIS INFORMATION AND INCORPORATE ONE OF THESE TREATMENTS FOR A MORE EFFICIENT GENOME EDITING STRATEGY TO IMPROVE GENES IN VARIOUS MAJOR FIELD CROPS SUCH AS WHEAT OR RICE. NOT ONLY DOES THIS ENSURE FOOD SECURITY BUT IMPROVES AGRICULTURE'S IMPACT ON BOTH ECONOMIES, IN THE FORM OF REDUCED LOSSES OF CROPS SOLD TO MARKETS, AND THE ENVIRONMENT, AS MORE RESILIENT CROPS REDUCE THE NEED AND USAGE OF WATER, PESTICIDES, AND FERTILIZERS.