Plant Engineering To Revolutionize Sustainable Energy Production And Heighten Opportunities For Novel Efficiency (Persephone)

The Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E), part of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), is seeking proposals for the PERSEPHONE program, which aims to develop disruptive technologies for bioenergy crop genetic engineering. Bioenergy contributes about 5% of domestic energy consumption in the U.S., with the potential to expand significantly. However, achieving this requires transformative advances in genetic engineering tools to enhance crop resilience, productivity, and sustainability. The program will support the development of high-performance genetic engineering tools, novel engineering modalities, and biocontainment strategies to accelerate agricultural innovation for energy security and reduced reliance on imported energy. The program will prioritize projects that enable a significant impact, targeting at least 1 quadrillion British Thermal Units (quads) of energy production or reducing carbon dioxide emissions by more than 60 million metric tons. Potential applications include sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production, improved nitrogen efficiency in bioenergy crops, and the development of engineered wood materials. By addressing key technical challenges—such as low transformation efficiency, genotype dependency, and high labor costs—PERSEPHONE aims to democratize plant genetic engineering and drive progress in the bioenergy sector.