Developing Frontier Agri-Science Inc technology for crop drought tolerance

开发 Frontier Agri-Science Inc 作物抗旱技术

• 批准号: 484189-2015
• 负责人: Rothstein, Steven
• 金额: $ 1.82万
• 依托单位: University of Guelph
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Engage Grants Program
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2015-01-01 至 2016-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=584166
• 关键词: Developing; Frontier; Agri; Science; Inc

Frontier Agri-Science Inc is a Canadian agricultural biotechnology company focused on crop trait development. One of their primary areas of focus is in developing drought tolerance which is the single most important problem in maintaining crop yields world-wide. There are now four gene targets that when altered using a biotechnological approach that Frontiers has demonstrated can give drought tolerance in several plant species including Arabidopsis, canola and turfgrass. However, for a small company like Frontiers it is far too expensive from a regulatory point of view to take a GM approach to crop improvement unless the technology is sold to one of the large seed companies. An alternative approach is to use nucleotide sequence variation that has been utilized for crop improvement since domestication first began. TILLING (Targeting Induced Local Lesions IN Genomes) is one such reverse genetic (non-transgenic) strategy that combines traditional mutagenesis with high-throughput, cost effective discovery of single-nucleotide changes. Frontier has recently compiled a series of rice TILLING lines, representing four genes that regulate the expression of their previously identified molecular genetic targets that confer abiotic stress resistance in Arabidopsis, canola and bentgrass. While rice (Oryza sativa L.) is one of the most agronomically important crops and is a staple food for more than half of the world's population, it is also an ideal genetic system to study traits of importance with the knowledge used transferred to other crops of interest including wheat and corn. Successful outcomes will allow Frontier to confidently invest the time and financial resources it will require to move forward with the development and marketing of new varieties and commercial relationships. This work represents the first step in establishing a collaborative relationship between Frontier and the Rothstein research group with the potential to act as a pipeline from technology discovery, through early stage demonstration and onward toward commercialization.

Frontier Agri-Science Inc是一家加拿大农业生物技术公司，专注于作物性状开发。他们关注的主要领域之一是发展耐旱性，这是维持全球作物产量的最重要问题。现在有四个基因靶点，当使用生物技术方法改变时，Frontiers已经证明可以在几种植物物种中赋予耐旱性，包括拟南芥，油菜和草坪草。然而，对于像Frontiers这样的小公司来说，从监管的角度来看，采用转基因方法进行作物改良的成本太高，除非该技术被出售给一家大型种子公司。 另一种方法是使用核苷酸序列变异，这种变异自驯化开始以来就被用于作物改良。TILLING（靶向诱导的基因组局部损伤）是一种这样的反向遗传（非转基因）策略，其将传统诱变与高通量、成本有效的发现单核苷酸变化相结合。Frontier最近编制了一系列水稻TILLING品系，代表了调节其先前确定的分子遗传靶点表达的四个基因，这些靶点赋予拟南芥、油菜和稗草非生物胁迫抗性。水稻（Oryza sativa L.）是农业上最重要的作物之一，是世界上一半以上人口的主食，它也是研究重要性状的理想遗传系统，将所使用的知识转移到其他感兴趣的作物，包括小麦和玉米。成功的结果将使Frontier充满信心地投入时间， 它将需要财政资源来推动新品种的开发和营销以及商业关系。这项工作代表了Frontier和罗斯坦研究小组之间建立合作关系的第一步，有可能作为从技术发现到早期阶段演示再到商业化的管道。