STTR Phase I: Novel Analysis Tools for Production of Higher Indican Yielding Plants for Bio-based Indigo

这一小企业技术转让第一阶段项目的更广泛影响涉及到靛蓝作为一种与合成制造的靛蓝染料竞争的农作物的生存能力的提高。 靛蓝是18和19世纪全球主要的经济作物之一，占世界靛蓝染料消费的100%。 自世纪以来，世界上消耗的靛蓝染料几乎100%是由石油衍生物和危险有毒化学品合成制造的。 世界各地使用传统的工匠方法生产少量的植物来源的靛蓝染料，几个世纪以来基本上没有变化，但这种供应在纯度和一致性方面变化很大，与合成制造的靛蓝染料相比，成本远远没有竞争力。 Stony Creek Colors与Donald Danforth植物科学中心合作，通过该项目寻求通过创建一种高通量手持式分析设备来改善可用的靛蓝种植库存，该设备能够快速测量植物叶片中天然存在的靛蓝化学前体。 在此过程中，该团队还将通过对特定高产植物品种的DNA分析，提高对现有靛蓝种植种群遗传学的理解。该研究项目第一阶段的技术目标是开发新的基因组学和表型学工具，用于分析靛蓝作物紫穗槐，以生产一种改进的生物基特种化学品，该化学品来自可再生的丰富植物材料。STTR项目将绘制现有遗传资源的地图，同时开发一种独特的植物靛蓝（靛蓝前体）分析方法，这将有助于对育种系中的植物叶片进行非破坏性分析。 最后，将构建高产和低产籼稻亲本植株之间的遗传作图群体，以供分析和实验室验证。 与这些目标相关的第一阶段任务的成功完成将证明选择和保持靛蓝高产菌株的可行性。 这些改进将通过更高靛蓝产量的育种者种子库进行商业化，并将在6年内推广到美国东南部超过26，000英亩的农田，从而从美国种植的植物材料中提取出更可靠和更具成本竞争力的生物基靛蓝染料。 这将使植物来源的靛蓝与合成靛蓝染料相比更具成本竞争力，并满足牛仔布米尔斯厂对美国生物基靛蓝的直接市场需求。

The broader impacts of this Small Business Technology Transfer Phase I project relate to the increased viability of indigo as an agricultural crop competing with synthetically manufactured indigo dye. Indigo was among the major global cash crops of the 18th and 19th centuries and accounted for 100% of the indigo dye consumed in the world. Since the beginning of the 20th century, nearly 100% of the indigo dye consumed in the world has been synthetically manufactured from petroleum derivatives and hazardous and toxic chemicals. A small amount of plant-derived indigo dye is produced throughout the world using traditional artisan methods largely unchanged for centuries, but this supply is highly variable in purity and consistency and is far from cost competitive with synthetically manufactured indigo dye. Stony Creek Colors in cooperation with the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center seeks through this project to improve the available indigo planting stock by creating a high-throughput handheld assay device capable of rapid measurements of the chemical precursors for indigo which exist naturally in the plant leaves. During this process the team will also improve the understanding of the genetics of the existing indigo planting stock through DNA analysis of specific high-yielding plant varieties.The technical objectives in this Phase I research project are to develop new tools, both genomic and phenomic, for analyzing the indigo crop Persicaria tinctoria, to produce an improved bio-based specialty chemical derived from renewable, abundant plant-material. The STTR project will map existing genetic resources while developing a unique approach for plant indican (indigo precursor) analysis which will enable non-destructive analysis of plant leaves in breeding lines. Finally, a genetic mapping population between high and low indican-producing parent plants will be constructed for analysis and laboratory validation. Successful completion of the Phase I tasks tied to these objectives will prove the feasibility of selecting and maintaining high indigotin yielding strains of P. tinctoria. These improvements will be commercialized through higher indigotin yielding breeders seed stock and will be spread to over 26,000 acres of cropland in the Southeast US within 6 years, resulting in a more reliable and cost-competitive bio-based indigo dye extracted from U.S. grown plant material. This will allow plant-derived indigo to be more cost-competitive with synthetic indigo dye and to meet the immediate market demand for U.S. bio-based indigo by denim mills.