Using gene technology for improving crop morphology for protected environments

利用基因技术改善作物形态以保护环境

• 批准号: BB/Z514421/1
• 负责人: Tracy Lawson
• 金额: $ 64.15万
• 依托单位: University of Essex
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2024
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2024 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=BB%2FZ514421%2F1
• 关键词: Using; gene; technology; improving; crop

Context: Climate change, soil erosion and issues associated with chemical control of pests/diseases under field conditions is driving interest in cultivating selected crops in protected environments as well as controlled environments such as indoor farms.There are many benefits associated with fully controlled indoor environments such as vertical farm systems: 1) rapid crop development, 2) reduced water/nutrient/pesticide inputs, and 3) reduced food miles.To date, most commercially-active indoor farms have focused on microgreens or baby leaf salad crops, but there is potential to grow more crop types. Growers are now keen to develop highly controlled environments as an alternative to field grown crops for increased local production. However, unlike field-grown crop varieties, there has been limited research or breeding efforts to develop crops for such environments.Despite fast, healthy development of many crops in vertical farms, plant structure/architecture is not optimised. Breeders have selected varietal genotypes for field or glasshouse cultivation conditions over many decades. As yet, very little focussed breeding/selection has been undertaken for different indoor cultivation conditions and other protected environments.Typically, plant factories employ one of two main design styles:1)-Layers of stacked horizontal growing platforms;2)-Vertical units stacked in parallel, with LED lighting between layers.Horizontal systems limit crop-height, and whilst vertical systems better accommodate taller crops, pilot studies with chillies and cucumbers in aeroponic systems resulted in sub-optimal crop architecture, with inefficient twisted stems and long dropping fruit. Crop cultivation could be significantly improved through use of bushier, dwarf plants.Challenges: Breeding or selecting cultivars with dwarf phenotypes is a lengthy process, which has taken decades using conventional breeding approaches. Meeting the challenge of growing crops with alternative structural architecture for protected environments requires rapid innovation via use of modern genetic improvement strategies. The agricultural Green Revolution of the 1950/60s delivered dwarf varieties of our major arable crops, which resulted in increased global crop yields. Genes responsible for dwarfing wheat plants are known and involve production of the plant hormone Gibberellic Acid (GA). To date, application of this knowledge is restricted to the development of field-grown crops, and has never been exploited for commercial horticultural crops (notably tall pepper and cucumber families).We will exploit this knowledge alongside state-of-the-art genome editing (GE) techniques to produce dwarf peppers and cucumbers for aeroponic controlled environments and protected glasshouses.Project objectives:Exploit CRISPR GE technology to knock-out GA genes in pepper and cucumber to produce dwarf plants.Use grafting approaches to remove CRISPR elements in peppers.Assess the impact of gene manipulation on plant phenotypes.Test selected lines for growth/yield in indoor farms and a commercial glasshouse to evaluate commercial benefits.This will be one of the first studies to use CRISPR to manipulate plant architecture for protected environments. Furthermore, development of the technology and approach has numerous applications and benefits: 1) Proof-of-concept for use of GE technology to develop plants with the appropriate morphologies and traits for innovative indoor growth environments; 2) Exemplar for a much wider range of applications to improve plant phenotypes for new growing environments; 3) Demonstration of industrial potential for the use of grafting techniques to increase early growth rate via removal of CRISPR markers. Together these provide significant advancements for developing PACE cropping.

背景：气候变化、土壤侵蚀和与田间条件下的病虫害化学控制相关的问题正在推动人们在受保护的环境和室内农场等受控环境中种植选定的作物。完全受控的室内环境有许多好处，如垂直农场系统：1)作物快速发展，2)减少水/养分/农药投入，3)减少粮食里程。迄今为止，大多数商业活跃的室内农场专注于小绿叶或幼叶沙拉作物，但有可能种植更多类型的作物。种植者现在热衷于开发高度受控的环境，以替代大田种植的作物，以提高当地产量。然而，与大田种植的作物品种不同，为这种环境开发作物的研究或育种努力有限。尽管垂直农场的许多作物快速、健康地发展，但植物结构/结构并未得到优化。几十年来，育种者在大田或温室栽培条件下选择了不同的品种。到目前为止，针对不同的室内栽培条件和其他受保护的环境进行的集中育种/选择还很少。通常，植物工厂采用两种主要设计风格之一：1)-层叠的水平生长平台；2)-垂直单元平行堆放，层间有LED照明。水平系统限制作物高度，虽然垂直系统更好地适应更高的作物，但在气培系统中对辣椒和黄瓜的初步研究导致作物结构不太理想，茎扭曲，落果长。通过使用矮秆植物可以显著改善作物种植。挑战：培育或选择具有矮秆表型的品种是一个漫长的过程，使用传统的育种方法需要数十年。应对以受保护环境的替代结构架构种植作物的挑战，需要通过使用现代遗传改良策略进行快速创新。1950/60年代的农业绿色革命使我们的主要可耕种作物出现了矮化品种，导致全球作物产量增加。导致小麦植株矮化的基因是已知的，与植物激素赤霉酸(GA)的产生有关。到目前为止，这种知识的应用仅限于大田种植作物的发展，我们将利用这一知识和最先进的基因组编辑(GE)技术来生产用于气培控制环境和受保护温室的矮化辣椒和黄瓜。项目目标：利用CRISPR GE技术敲除辣椒和黄瓜中的GA基因来生产矮化植物。使用嫁接方法去除辣椒中的CRISPR元素。评估基因操作对植物表型的影响。在室内农场和商业温室中测试选定的品系的生长/产量，以评估商业效益。这将是第一批使用CRISPR来操纵受保护环境中的植物结构的研究之一。此外，该技术和方法的开发有许多应用和好处：1)概念验证，使用GE技术开发具有适当形态和特征的植物，以适应创新的室内生长环境；2)为更广泛的应用提供范例，以改进新的生长环境的植物表型；3)通过去除CRISPR标记，展示使用嫁接技术提高早期生长速度的工业潜力。这些都为发展快速种植提供了重要的进步。