EDISON AGROSCIENCES INC — Department of Defense STTR Phase I: ST18C-001

Description

Natural rubber is an essential manufacturing material that possesses performance properties that are superior to synthetic rubber for many product applications. However, natural rubber production is limited to a single species (rubber tree) in a limited geographic area (Southeast Asia) and is predicted to be incapable of meeting future demand. Producing rubber from another commercial crop such as sunflower would greatly reduce the probability of a disruption in its supply and potentially make the US independent of imported natural rubber. Sunflower currently accumulates rubber in its leaves at 1-2% dry weight. In order for sunflower to become a commercially viable source of rubber, this level must be increased 3- to 5-fold. The overall goal of this STTR project is to engineer sunflower with higher levels of rubber production enabling a commercially competitive, domestically sourced, rubber crop. Phase I will characterize the role of three potentially key genes in rubber biosynthesis. Objective 1 is to transform sunflower with rubber pathway genes to test their ability to alter rubber production. Objective 2 will characterize the native sunflower rubber manufacturing properties. Phase II will build on the knowledge gained from the Phase I project to develop approaches for engineering improved sunflower rubber production.