Source: ASTALAKE BIOSYSTEMS, INC. submitted to NRP
GENETIC OPTIMIZATION OF CORN LIGNIN BIOSYNTHESIS FOR SYNERGISTIC IMPROVEMENTS IN FORAGE QUALITY, YIELD AND PRESERVATION
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
COMPLETE
Funding Source
SMALL BUSINESS GRANT
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
1019810
Grant No.
2019-33610-29862
Cumulative Award Amt.
$106,500.00
Proposal No.
2019-01011
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Project Start Date
Sep 1, 2019
Project End Date
Jun 30, 2021
Grant Year
2020
Program Code
[8.2]- Plant Production and Protection-Biology
Recipient Organization
ASTALAKE BIOSYSTEMS, INC.
6363 CHRISTIE AVE #2411
EMERYVILLE,CA 946081948
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
As the world's population reaches 9.7 billion in the year 2050, global crop production will need to double to meet projected demand for food, feed, fiber, and fuel. Corn, the largest annual crop in the world, will play a major role in helping to meet this need. In the United States, more than a third of the corn produced is used as livestock feed (148 million tons in 2017) and its stover also represents the most abundant agricultural residue for production of clean bioenergy (100 million tons by 2020). Improving the quantity and quality of corn biomass and stress tolerance are essential to sustaining and developing global production of meat and milk as well as biofuels and bio-products. In this SBIR project, Astalake Biosystems's state-of-the-art synthetic biology technology offers significantly improved corn forage with a combination of beneficial traits - increased stress tolerance, biomass per acre and improved digestibility (high quality). Thus, Astalake Biosystems technology and business will directly support USDA's strategic goals and priority areas: "agriculturally-related manufacturing technology" and "energy efficiency and alternative and renewable energy".
Animal Health Component
100%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
100%
Developmental
(N/A)
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
5021699102050%
5021699104050%
Knowledge Area
502 - New and Improved Food Products;

Subject Of Investigation
1699 - Pasture and forage crops, general/other;

Field Of Science
1040 - Molecular biology; 1020 - Physiology;
Goals / Objectives
The goal of the SBIR project is to develop an efficient approach to engineering corn biomass digestibility while improving yields and maintaining resilience to stress. The quality trait generated by our patent-pending genetic engineering strategy will ameliorate biomass degradability. Biomass quality for agricultural and industrial processes is mainly determined by its digestibility or processability, a trait associated with biomass composition that consists of energy-rich matrix polysaccharides protected by recalcitrant indigestible lignin polymers. Although traditional breeding has increased corn yields drastically over the past 50 years, modest or no improvements have been achieved for forage quality and digestibility. This is in part due to partial antagonisms between these two traits. In this SBIR project, Astalake Biosystems aims at fine-tuning lignin deposition in corn biomass and thereby reduce lignin content by 20% in a tissue-specific manner, as well as increase biomass yields by at least 10%.
Project Methods
Over the duration of the project, Astalake Biosystems will generate several constructs with selection marker cassette and target cassettes and will transform these constructs into publically available corn inbred line. The transgenic plantlets regenerated from tissue culture will be transferred to soil for further analysis. Among the generated lines, the best events will be selected based on molecular characterization, detailed morphological analysis, and biomass composition analyses. Our characterizations will represent valuable material for both futures field-test validation and introgression of the biomass quality trait into elite germplasms via modern breeding programs.

Progress 09/01/19 to 06/30/21

Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience(s) are key players in silage corn seed/grains market. Key planting seed companies in the U.S. corn market are Monsanto (current Bayer CropScience) and Dow/Dupont Pioneer (current Corteva), which together have a 68% market share. Other Audiences include Syngenta (current ChemChina), AgReliant, and a multitude of local and regional seed companies. Turning to the European Union (EU), KWS and Limagrain are the two dominant corn planting seed players. Commercialization of Astalake Biosystems' technology offers valuable material for both futures field-test validation and introgression of the biomass quality trait into elite germplasms via modern breeding programs. Like other enabling technologies and traits (e.g., yield and quality traits), incorporation of the technology in planting seed could directly and/or indirectly increase the value of corn, the most commercially competitive annual crop in the U.S. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Nothing Reported How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Nothing Reported What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Astalake Biosystems generated the initial low-lignin high-quality genetic events introduced in inbred corn. To enable commercialization of the generated trait, a path toward non-regulated status under the criteria specified in USDA APHIS that apply to genetically modified varieties transformed without any DNA elements from plant pests will be followed. The outcome from the proposed project offers high-quality lignocellulose biomass that can be converted to advanced animal feed (silage) and enhance livestock performance. For example, Astalake Biosystems' superior quality forage will benefit dairy farmers for milk production and sustain expanding U.S. dairy exports, leveraging a trend of increasing corn silage in dairy rations that have driven the increased production of corn silage over the past two decades. Moreover based on the U.S. DOE 2016 Billion-Ton Report, over the next 25 years, the amount of domestic bioenergy feedstocks available to support the bioenergy industry is projected to grow from 141 million metric tons (MT) in 2022 to 586 million MT in 2040 based on a baseline case growth in yields of 1% per annum and lignocellulosic biomass price of $60/dry MT. Corn stover will represent 70% (100 million MT) and 26% (154 million MT) of this total in 2020 and 2040, respectively. If Astalake Biosystems's technology were to increase yields of corn stover by 3-10%, it would translate into another 3-10 million MT in 2020 and 4.6-15.4 million MT in 2040. Assuming a price of $60/MT, the value of the increased lignocellulosic biomass yield will be $180-$600 million in 2020 and $276-$924 million in 2040.

Publications


    Progress 09/01/19 to 08/31/20

    Outputs
    Target Audience:The target audience(s) are key players in silage corn seed/grains market. Key planting seed companies in the U.S. corn market are Monsanto and Pioneer (Dupont), which together have a 68% market share. Other competitors include Dow AgroSciences, Syngenta, AgReliant, and a multitude of local and regional seed companies. Turning to the European Union (EU), KWS and Limagrain are the two dominant corn planting seed players. Commercialization of Astalake Biosystems' technology offers valuable material for both futures field-test validation and introgression of the biomass quality trait into elite germplasms via modern breeding programs. Like other enabling technologies and traits (e.g., yield and quality traits), incorporation of the technology in planting seed could directly and/or indirectly increase the value of corn, the most commercially competitive annual crop in the U.S. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Nothing Reported How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Nothing Reported What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

    Impacts
    What was accomplished under these goals? Astalake Biosystem generated the initial low-lignin high-quality genetic events introduced in inbred corn. To enable commercialization of the generated trait, a path toward non-regulated status under the criteria specified in USDA APHIS that apply to genetically modified varieties transformed without any DNA elements from plant pests will be followed. The outcome from the proposed project offers high-quality lignocellulose biomass that can be converted to advanced animal feed (silage) and enhance livestock performance. For example, Astalake Biosystems' superior quality forage will benefit dairy farmers for milk production and sustain expanding U.S. dairy exports, leveraging a trend of increasing corn silage in dairy rations that have driven the increased production of corn silage over the past two decades. Moreover based on the U.S. DOE 2016 Billion-Ton Report, over the next 25 years, the amount of domestic bioenergy feedstocks available to support the bioenergy industry is projected to grow from 141 million metric ton (MT) in 2022 to 586 million MT in 2040 based on a baseline case growth in yields of 1% per annum and lignocellulosic biomass price of $60/dry MT. Corn stover will represent 70% (100 million MT) and 26% (154 million MT) of this total in 2020 and 2040, respectively. If Astalake Biosystems's technology were to increase yields of corn stover by 3-10%, it would translate into another 3-10 million MT in 2020 and 4.6-15.4 million MT in 2040. Assuming a price of $60/MT, the value of the increased lignocellulosic biomass yield will be $180-$600 million in 2020 and $276-$924 million in 2040.

    Publications