SBIR Phase I: Genomically Optimized Turf Grass

这个小型企业创新研究(SBIR)第一阶段项目的更广泛影响将开发更丰盛的、环境友好型草品种。据估计，美国30%的用水用于给草坪和草地浇水，其中大部分被蒸发、径流和过度浇水浪费掉。用来除草的化学除草剂、杀虫剂和化肥可能是剧毒的。该项目的草坪品种经过基因优化后，需要的水和养分将大大减少，从而保护宝贵的资源并减少环境毒素。此外，这种草的增强的根系将比传统的草捕获和储存碳的时间更长，导致大气碳的减少。拟议的项目将涉及温室和实地测试冷暖气候的草坪草品种和品种，在温室内实现概念验证，然后过渡到室外测试和田间试验，使项目能够快速通过商业化的早期阶段。该项目的重点将是：1)建立一个有效的表型系统，以监测相关的和商业上可行的冷暖气候草坪草种的根生长；2)建立分析协议，涉及不同草坪品种的杂交育种，并模拟响应于该育种的生理和化学表型；3)生成一个全面的专有数据库，以响应杂交育种的量化根生长效应；以及4)开发一个准确的系统，以测量在优化的根系中捕获和储存的碳量。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势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 of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will develop heartier, environmentally friendly grass varieties. An estimated 30% of US water usage goes to watering lawns and grass, with much of that wasted due to evaporation, runoff and overwatering. Chemical herbicides, pesticides and fertilizers used for grass can be extremely toxic. The project’s genomically optimized turf varieties will require substantially less water and nutrients, preserving precious resources and reducing environmental toxins. In addition, the enhanced root systems in this grass will capture and store carbon for longer time periods than conventional grass, leading to reduced atmospheric carbon. The proposed project will involve greenhouse and field testing with warm and cold climate turf grass species and varieties, achieving proof of concept in the greenhouse, and then transitioning to outdoor testing and field trials, allowing the project to progress quickly through the early phases of commercialization. The project will focus on: 1) establishing an efficient phenotyping system to monitor root growth in relevant and commercially viable warm and cold climate turf grass species; 2) establishing protocols for assays that involve the cross breeding of different turf varieties with simulations of physiological and chemical root phenotyping in response to that breeding; 3) generating a comprehensive proprietary database of quantitative root growth effects in response to the cross breeding assays, and 4) developing an accurate system to measure the amount of carbon captured and stored in the optimized root system.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.