Location: Floral and Nursery Plants Research
Project Number: 8020-21000-087-001-S
Project Type: Non-Assistance Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Aug 1, 2019
End Date: Jul 31, 2024
Objective:
The overall goal is to develop bioengineering pipelines for specific landscape crops with high economic value in order to provide the most immediate impacts for crop improvement. To achieve that goal, the objective is to develop bioengineering pipelines for Rosa, Rudbeckia, and Tripidium as model crops. We will focus on transgene-free approaches for gene editing using Agrobacterium-mediated plant transformation and subsequent breeding and/or other approaches including magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs)-mediated pollen magnetofection or particle bombardment with Cas9/gRNA ribonucleoprotein complexes (RNPs). These systems will have broad utility and provide a foundation for developing improved crops with enhanced disease and insect resistance, non-invasiveness, unique phenotypes, and greater commercial potential. Transgene-free end products will be realized by segregating out transgenes with selective breeding or with the use of DNA-free delivery systems.
Approach:
The approach will focus on crops and families of economic importance with some existing genomic resources including Rosa (Rosaceae), Rudbeckia (Asteraceae), and Tripidium (Poaceae and a member of the sugarcane complex including Miscanthus). As funding permits, we will continue to develop and refine regeneration and transformation systems using various approaches. Specifically, we plan to: (1) Conduct Agrobacterium-mediated plant transformation for Rosa, Rudbeckia, and Tripidium, and (2) Explore Cas9/gRNA ribonucleoprotein complex (RNPs) delivery systems for Rudbeckia, Tripidium, and Rosa, and MNPs-mediated pollen magnetofection for Rosa.
