Beneficial microbes and microbial tools to assist Canadian agriculture

这项提议旨在测试益生菌和基于微生物的诊断技术，以减少作物生产中合成农药和氮肥的使用。与生活在人体肠道内帮助消化牛奶的微生物类似，植物中居住着潜在有益的微生物，植物科学家将其称为内生菌。内生菌通常是细菌和真菌，它们可以帮助宿主生物获得营养，耐受环境压力或对抗病原体。我们已经成功地对来自谷物的250种内生菌进行了生物勘探，并在室内条件下表明，它们可以使加拿大的玉米和小麦受益(通过抑制镰刀菌病害)。这项提议的第一个目标是在田间条件下测试这些潜在的益生菌，作为走向商业化的第一步。全球农业生物技术公司已决定，此类生物制品将成为其增长战略的主要组成部分，因此，这一提议将有助于加拿大成为这一创造就业机会领域的全球领导者。其次，我们设计了一种微生物作为诊断工具(生物传感器)，目的是帮助农民更有效地使用氮肥，以提高农民收入，减少对环境的破坏。这项提议将把这项已获得美国专利的实验室测试扩展到现实世界的田间条件。综合起来，这项提案将探索使用有益的微生物来帮助加拿大的谷物种植者。

This proposal is aimed at testing probiotic microbes and microbial-based diagnostic technologies to reduce the use of synthetic pesticides and nitrogen fertilizer in crop production. Similar to microbes that live inside the human intestine that help to digest milk, plants are inhabited by potentially beneficial microbes, referred to by plant scientists as endophytes. Endophytes are typically bacteria and fungi, and they can assist their host organisms to acquire nutrients, tolerate environmental stress or combat pathogens. We have successfully bioprospected for 250 endophytes from cereals and shown under indoor conditions that they can benefit Canadian corn and wheat (by suppressing Fusarium diseases). The first objective of this proposal is to test these potential probiotics under field conditions, as the first step towards commercialization. Global agbiotech companies have decided that such biologicals will be a major part of their growth strategy, and hence this proposal will help Canada to become a global leader in this job-creating sector. Second, we have engineered a microbe to act as a diagnostic tool (biosensor) with the goal of helping farmers to more effectively use nitrogen fertilizer, in order to improve farmer incomes and reduce environmental damage. This proposal will extend this laboratory test, which has been issued a US patent, into real world field conditions. Combined, this proposal will explore the use of beneficial microbes to assist Canadian grain farmers.