STTR Phase I: Modulating Antenna Size to Increase Canopy Photosynthesis and Crop Yield Potential

STTR 第一阶段：调节天线尺寸以增加冠层光合作用和作物产量潜力

• 批准号: 1346317
• 负责人: Xingrong Wu
• 金额: $ 22.42万
• 依托单位: Benson Hill Biosystems, Inc.
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2014-01-01 至 2015-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1346317&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: STTR; Phase; Modulating; Antenna; Size

This Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I project proposes to develop novel biotech plant lines with improved rates of photosynthesis in a canopy setting. The improved rates of photosynthesis will enable increases in intrinsic crop yield. Photosynthesis has evolved on an individual, rather than a population basis, resulting in reduced photosynthetic efficiency on a population basis in an agricultural setting. By optimizing plant physiology for improved light capture on a population basis in an agricultural setting, this project will improve photosynthetic carbon fixation, resulting in increased crop yields on an area basis. The research will utilize synthetic biology and metabolic engineering to identify traits that lead to significant increases in plant growth and biomass accumulation and will identify the physiological basis for these increases. In particular, this work will elucidate the molecular characteristics of light harvesting antennae that are optimized for efficient light capture leading to plant growth and biomass accumulation without wasteful dissipation of energy.The broader impact/commercial potential of this project, if successful, will be the development of novel traits that will lead to improved yields across a wide range of crop plants. The proposed approach is novel, and will lead to an improved understanding of photosynthesis, and of the factors that limit photosynthetic efficiency in an agricultural setting. By developing technologies that will enable higher crop yields, this project will contribute to increased food availability and food security, and will provide an immense commercial opportunity to the agricultural sector through the development of novel crop varieties with improved agronomic traits. These new varieties will provide commercial benefit to seed companies and to growers alike. While traditional approaches to yield improvement in the agricultural biotechnology sector have focused on yield protection, this project will identify traits that increase yield potential. The technologies developed as a result of this project will augment existing agricultural biotechnology traits, providing added commercial benefit. Translating the results of this Phase I project to crop plants will result in improved crop yields and will provide important benefits to seed companies, farmers, trait developers, and to society as a whole through improved food availability.

这个小型企业技术转移（STTR）I阶段项目提议开发新型生物技术植物线，并在树冠环境中具有提高的光合作用速率。 光合作用的提高将使内在作物产量增加。 光合作用是基于个人而不是人口的发展，从而导致在农业环境中人口基础的光合效率降低。 通过在农业环境中优化植物生理以改善人口的光捕获，该项目将改善光合碳固定，从而在面积的基础上增加农作物的产量。 该研究将利用合成生物学和代谢工程来确定导致植物生长和生物量积累大幅增加的特征，并将确定这些增加的生理基础。 特别是，这项工作将阐明光收集触角的分子特性，这些触角可进行优化，以有效地捕获光捕获，从而导致植物生长和生物量积累而不会浪费能量。 所提出的方法是新颖的，将导致对光合作用的了解，以及在农业环境中限制光合效率的因素。 通过开发将促进农作物产量更高的技术，该项目将有助于提高粮食的可用性和粮食安全，并通过开发具有改善的农艺特征的新型农作物品种，为农业部门提供巨大的商业机会。 这些新品种将为种子公司和种植者提供商业利益。 尽管传统的方法在农业生物技术领域的屈服方法侧重于产量保护，但该项目将确定提高产量潜力的特征。 由于该项目而开发的技术将增强现有的农业生物技术特征，从而增加商业利益。 将该I阶段项目的结果转换为作物工厂将提高农作物的产量，并通过改善食品可利用性为种子公司，农民，特质开发商以及整个社会提供重要的好处。