Location: Floral and Nursery Plants Research
Project Number: 8020-21000-087-011-S
Project Type: Non-Assistance Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Sep 1, 2023
End Date: Aug 31, 2026
Objective:
The objective of this agreement is to develop innovative biotechnologies and applications for nursery crops, using an integrated, transdisciplinary team of scientists. This work will result in bioengineering pipelines spanning foundational technologies to enhance opportunities for nursery growers and support sustainable production and use of nursery crops.
Approach:
We will use a multi-faceted interdisciplinary team approach to accomplish the objective. This includes: 1) Develop and refine species-specific regeneration and transformation systems for model nursery crops, including rose, hydrangea, ornamental grasses, boxwood, flowering cherry, or other crops using different technologies, with an emphasis on transgene-free gene editing methods; 2) Bioengineer specific genes to confer traits of interest, including disease resistance, flower traits, and non-invasiveness; and 3) Utilize conventional breeding to incorporate biotech-derived traits into breeding lines to facilitate utilization of this new technology and new traits.
