SBIR Phase I: GABA-Mediated Nitrogen Efficiency

这项小型企业创新研究第一阶段的研究旨在提高植物利用氮（N）的效率，并增强其对水分胁迫的耐受性。拟议的项目将在油籽植物中引入一种新的途径，增加氨基酸γ-氨基丁酸（GABA）的产量。GABA与氮吸收和胁迫耐受性有关。研究目标包括测试新途径如何影响植物大小和产量，以及在有限的氮和水分胁迫条件下对种子活力和质量的影响。 这项研究的更广泛影响是经济增长和环境救济。作物产量与氮肥利用率直接相关。 然而，在施于田间的氮肥中，植物仅使用一部分。未被利用的氮流入河流、湖泊和溪流。 氮基肥料是作物生产中的主要成本。因此，可以用显著更少的N（即，提高氮肥利用率; NUE）可以显著降低作物生产成本，并有助于保护环境，同时满足对食品，饲料，纤维和生物燃料日益增长的需求。据估计，NUE增加20%（适度），全球每年仅谷物生产就可节省近50亿美元。天气变化也影响作物生产成本和产量。干旱导致全球每年作物损失5%至30%。耐旱性增强的植物有助于维持农业生产。在积极寻求具有增加的NUE和增值性状的作物的市场中，所提出的技术具有巨大的商业潜力。

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I research aims to increase the efficiency in which plants use nitrogen (N) and to enhance their tolerance to water stress. The proposed project will introduce into oilseed plants a novel pathway that will increase production of the amino acid, gamma-amino butyric acid (GABA). GABA has been implicated in both N uptake and stress tolerance. Research objectives include testing how the novel pathway affects plant size and yield, as well as effects on seed viability and quality under limited N and water stress conditions. The broader impacts of this research are economic growth and environmental relief. Crop yield is directly related to N use. However, of the N fertilizer applied to the fields, plants use only a portion. Unutilized N runs off into rivers, lakes, and streams. N-based fertilizers are a major cost in crop production. Thus plants that can achieve high yield with significantly less N (i.e., increased N-use efficiency; NUE) could significantly reduce crop-production costs and help protect the environment while accommodating the growing demand for food, feed, fiber, and biofuel. A 20% (modest) increase in NUE is estimated to have a global annual savings of nearly $5 billion in cereal production alone. Weather changes also affect crop-production costs and yield. Droughts have incurred global annual crop losses of 5% to 30%. Plants with increased tolerance to drought could help sustain agricultural production. The proposed technology has great commercial potential in a market that is actively seeking crops with increased NUE and value-added traits.