SBIR Phase II: Nutrient-Enhanced Soybean for Aquafeed

小型企业创新研究(SBIR)第二阶段项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力将是生产用于水产饲料的高营养大豆。由于世界人口的增加和富裕，肉类和鱼类的消费正在迅速增长。水产养殖是增长最快的食品部门。野生捕获的小鱼被用作水产养殖饲料。野生捕捞的鱼类产量25年来没有变化，过度捕捞小型鱼类危及海洋生态系统。水产饲料生产商正转向大豆蛋白来取代鱼粉，但大豆蛋白缺乏牛磺酸，而且缺乏蛋氨酸，蛋氨酸是鱼类的两种重要营养物质。为了满足鱼类的营养需求，生产商在大豆水产饲料中添加合成牛磺酸和蛋氨酸。除了增加成本外，合成牛磺酸和蛋氨酸都是从有害物质中生产出来的，而且合成牛磺酸已被证明含有砷。营养增强型大豆种子的成功开发将减少水产饲料所需的补充营养素的数量，预计2020年全球成本为22亿美元，并可为水产饲料生产商节省20%的添加剂饲料成本。对于快速发展的水产养殖业，营养增强型大豆种子将是一种经济、健康、可持续、环境友好和安全的牛磺酸和蛋氨酸来源。这项SBIR第二阶段项目将使用生物技术方法来增加大豆种子中的基本营养物质，用于水产饲料。许多水产饲料生产商使用植物蛋白，主要来自大豆，作为鱼粉的替代品。然而，植物缺乏正常鱼类生长和发育所需的一些营养物质。大豆中缺乏或缺乏的两种营养物质牛磺酸和蛋氨酸被添加到大豆水产饲料中，从而增加了饲料生产成本。该项目的目标是提高一种商品级、高蛋白、饲料消化率高的大豆品种种子中产生的牛磺酸和蛋氨酸的水平。分子和生化方法将被用来鉴定大豆种子：(1)牛磺酸和高蛋氨酸水平；(2)不受影响的品质和生存能力；(3)其他营养物质的不受影响水平；(4)正常或高于正常的蛋白质含量；以及(5)低水平的不可消化化合物。预期的结果是，与对照种子相比，生产出的大豆种子至少含有0.2%的牛磺酸(种子干重)，总蛋氨酸至少增加50%。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will be the production of enhanced-nutrition soybeans that have high levels of protein for use in aquafeed. Meat and fish consumption is rapidly growing due to increased world population and affluence. Aquaculture is the fastest growing food sector. Small wild-caught fish are used for aquaculture feed. Wild-caught fish harvests have not changed in 25 years and overfishing small fish jeopardizes the marine ecosystem. Aquafeed producers are turning to soy-based protein to replace fishmeal but soy-based proteins lack taurine and are deficient in methionine, two important nutrients for fish. To meet fish nutritional requirements, producers supplement soy-based aquafeed with synthetic taurine and methionine. In addition to added costs, synthetic taurine and methionine are produced from hazardous substances, and synthetic taurine has been shown to contain arsenic. Successful development of enhanced-nutrition soybean seeds would reduce the amount of supplemental nutrients required in aquafeed, a $2.2B global annual cost predicted for 2020, and could save aquafeed producers 20% of their additive feed costs. Enhanced-nutrition soybean seeds would be an economical, healthy, sustainable, environmentally friendly and secure source of taurine and methionine for the rapidly growing aquaculture industry.This SBIR Phase II project will use a biotechnology approach to increase the essential nutrients in soybean seeds for use in aquafeed. Many aquafeed producers use plant-based protein, primarily from soybean, as a replacement for fishmeal. However, plants lack some nutrients required for normal fish growth and development. Taurine and methionine, two nutrients either lacking or limited in soybean, are supplemented to soy-based aquafeed, thus increasing feed-production costs. The goal of this project is to increase the levels of taurine and methionine produced in the seeds of a commercial-grade, high-protein soybean variety that has high feed digestibility. Molecular and biochemical methods will be used to identify soybean seeds with: (1) taurine and high methionine levels; (2) uncompromised quality and viability; (3) unaffected levels of other nutrients; (4) normal to higher-than-normal protein content; and (5) low levels of nondigestible compounds. The anticipated results are the production of soybean seeds with a minimum of 0.2% taurine (dry seed weight) and at least 50% more total methionine compared with control seeds.