SBIR Phase I: Identification of disease resistance traits to improve the productivity and sustainability of soybean cultivation

这项小企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力是提高大豆种植的生产力和环境可持续性。大豆是美国种植最广泛的作物，种植面积近9000万英亩。大豆是食品系统的重要组成部分，每年产生220亿美元的出口收入。对大豆生产的最大威胁之一是被称为亚洲大豆锈病的真菌病原体。目前的商品大豆品种对这种病原体没有抵抗力，每年在杀菌剂上花费超过20亿美元来控制这种疾病。虽然大豆对该病菌高度敏感，但许多野生植物物种对该病菌具有天然抗性。该项目旨在确定野生植物物种抗病的自然发生机制，可用于开发抗病大豆品种。采用这些品种预计将为大豆产业带来超过40亿美元的价值，同时提高生产率并减少杀菌剂的使用。这个SBIR一期项目的智力优势是鉴定出具有抗亚洲大豆锈病能力的植物免疫受体蛋白。亚洲大豆锈病是由真菌病原体肿根Phakopsora pachyrhizi引起的。植物是否对特定病原体具有抗性的关键决定因素是植物是否具有能够识别入侵病原体存在的适当免疫受体蛋白。一旦被激活，植物免疫受体触发植物防御反应，通常导致免疫。本项目将使用反向遗传和生化方法来鉴定赋予亚洲大豆锈病抗性的植物免疫受体蛋白。初步工作确定了Phakopsora的几个分子在非寄主植物物种中引起免疫反应。目的是鉴定同源免疫受体，并测试它们是否足以使免疫激活对亚洲大豆锈病引发子分子的反应。本研究为今后培育抗亚洲大豆锈病的大豆品种奠定了基础。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is to improve the productivity and environmental sustainability of soybean cultivation. Soybean is the most widely grown crop in the United States with nearly 90 million acres under cultivation. Soybean is a key part of the food system and generates $22 billion in export revenue each year. One of the greatest threats to soybean production is the fungal pathogen known as Asian Soybean Rust. Current commercial soybean varieties have no resistance to this pathogen and over $2 billion is spent annually on fungicides to control this disease. While soybean is highly susceptible to this disease, many wild plant species have natural resistance to this pathogen. This project seeks to identify the naturally occurring mechanisms of disease resistance in wild plant species that can be used to develop disease-resistant soybean varieties. Adoption of these varieties is expected to bring more than $4 billion in value to the soybean industry while improving productivity and reducing fungicide use.The intellectual merit of this SBIR Phase I project is to identify plant immune receptor proteins that confer disease resistance to Asian Soybean Rust, which is caused by the fungal pathogen Phakopsora pachyrhizi. A key determinant of whether or not a plant is resistant to a particular pathogen is whether the plant has an appropriate immune receptor protein capable of recognizing the presence of the invading pathogen. Once activated, plant immune receptors trigger plant defense responses that typically result in immunity. This project will use reverse genetic and biochemical approaches to identify plant immune receptor proteins that confer resistance to Asian Soybean Rust. Preliminary work identified several molecules from Phakopsora that elicit an immune response in non-host plant species. The goal is to identify the cognate immune receptors and test them for sufficiency to enable immune activation in response to Asian Soybean Rust elicitor molecules. This research will enable future work to the development soybean varieties with resistance to Asian Soybean Rust.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.