SBIR Phase I: Taurine- and Methionine-Rich Soybean for Aquafeed

这一小型企业创新研究(SBIR)项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力将是生产含有牛磺酸和增加蛋氨酸的增强型营养(EN)大豆。随着世界人口的增加和变得更加富裕，肉类和鱼类的消费正在迅速增长。增长最快的食品部门是水产养殖。野生捕获的小鱼被用来制作水产养殖的饲料，但野生捕获的鱼的收成在25年里没有改变。这种做法是不可持续的。过度捕捞鱼类数量少，危及海洋生态系统。水产饲料生产商正转向大豆蛋白来取代鱼粉，但植物蛋白缺乏牛磺酸，而且缺乏蛋氨酸，蛋氨酸是鱼类的两种重要氨基酸。为了满足鱼类的营养需求，生产商在大豆水产饲料中添加合成牛磺酸和蛋氨酸。除了增加成本外，合成牛磺酸和蛋氨酸都是从有害物质中生产出来的，而且合成牛磺酸已被证明含有砷。EN大豆将减少水产饲料所需的补充氨基酸的数量，预计2020年全球年成本为22亿美元，并可为水产饲料生产商节省20%的添加剂饲料成本。对于快速发展的水产养殖业，EN大豆将是一种经济、健康、可持续、环境友好和安全的牛磺酸和蛋氨酸来源。这项SBIR第一阶段项目旨在证明，增强型营养(EN)技术可以在不影响种子质量的情况下，在大豆种子中生产出商业上可行的水平的牛磺酸和蛋氨酸。以大豆为基础的蛋白质正在取代肉类和鱼类的蛋白质。然而，植物缺乏水产饲料所需的一些氨基酸，必须加以补充，这增加了饲料生产成本。牛磺酸和蛋氨酸是大豆中缺乏或有限的两种氨基酸，它们被添加到以大豆为基础的水产饲料中。这个SBIR项目的目标是生产含有牛磺酸和增加蛋氨酸的大豆，这些大豆可以用在减少补充氨基酸的水产饲料中。在这一阶段的研究中，将使用分子、生化和生理学方法来实现以下目标。目标是确定EN大豆种子是否含有牛磺酸，以及与对照品系的种子相比是否含有更高的蛋氨酸水平；确定EN技术是否影响其他氨基酸水平、种子质量(总蛋白质、油、水分含量和种子活力)或种子储存蛋白水平；并确定五个牛磺酸和蛋氨酸含量较高的品系。预期的技术结果是，大豆种子的牛磺酸水平至少为种子干重的0.2%，总蛋氨酸水平至少是对照品系种子的两倍。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) project will be the production of enhanced-nutrition (EN) soybeans that contain taurine and increased methionine. As the world population increases and becomes more affluent, meat and fish consumption is rapidly growing. The fastest growing food sector is aquaculture. Small wild-caught fish are used to make feed for aquaculture, but wild-caught fish harvests have not changed in 25 years. This practice is not sustainable. Overfishing the small fish population jeopardizes the marine ecosystem. Aquafeed producers are turning to soy-based protein to replace fishmeal but plant proteins lack taurine and are deficient in methionine, two important amino acids for fish. To meet fish nutritional requirements, producers supplement soy-based aquafeed with synthetic taurine and methionine. In addition to added costs, synthetic taurine and methionine are produced from hazardous substances, and synthetic taurine has been shown to contain arsenic. EN soybeans would reduce the amount of supplemental amino acids required in aquafeed, a $2.2B global annual cost predicted for 2020, and could save aquafeed producers 20% of additive feed costs. The EN soybean would be an economical, healthy, sustainable, environmentally friendly and secure source of taurine and methionine for the rapidly growing aquaculture industry.This SBIR Phase I project proposes to demonstrate that the enhanced-nutrition (EN) technology can produce commercially viable levels of taurine and methionine in soybean seeds without adversely affecting seed quality. Soy-based protein is replacing meat and fish-based protein. However, plants lack some amino acids required in aquafeed and must be supplemented, which increases feed-production costs. Taurine and methionine, two amino acids either lacking or limited in soybean, are added to soy-based aquafeed. The goal of this SBIR project is to produce soybeans that contain taurine and increased methionine that can be used in aquafeed with reduced supplemental amino acids. Molecular, biochemical, and physiological methods will be used to meet the following objectives in this Phase I research. The goals are to determine whether EN soybean seeds contain taurine and have higher methionine levels compared with seeds of control lines; determine whether the EN technology affects the other amino acid levels, seed quality (total protein, oil, moisture content, and seed viability), or seed-storage protein levels; and identify five lines with high levels of taurine and methionine. Anticipated technical results are EN soybean seeds with taurine levels at least 0.2% dry seed weight and total methionine levels at least twice that of seeds in control lines.