Location: Bioproducts Research
Project Number: 2030-21410-021-006-S
Project Type: Non-Assistance Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Sep 3, 2014
End Date: Sep 2, 2019
Objective:
Improve the quality of natural rubber in guayule.
Approach:
Guayule (Parthenium argentatum) is a woody desert shrub that produces natural rubber by biosynthesis. Extraction of the rubber requires chemical stabilization since the rubber is highly susceptible to oxidation. Oxidation reduces the molecular weight of the rubber creating low quality. Our approach is to increase the level of the naturally-occurring antioxidant, alpha-tocopherol (Vitamin E) produced in the plant via genetic engineering of guayule. In preliminary studies, addition of alpha-tocopherol to guayule rubber was five times more effective at stabilization than 6-ppd, N-(1,3-dimethylbutyl) -N'-phenyl-p-phenylenediamine, a commonly-used chemical antioxidant.
