SBIR Phase I: A simple, targeted and flexible method for transferring value-added genes from wild relatives of crop plants

The broader impact of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is to improve agricultural production. Of the global production differences with projected yields, about 25% results from disease and insects, and the remaining 75% is due to abiotic stresses. Wild relatives of crop plants harbor tremendous number of value-added genes for various agronomic traits including biotic and abiotic stress tolerance, but their transfer using currently available methods is practically impossible as it is time-consuming, technically challenging, and risky as undesirable traits may be transferred with the target trait - rendering it unusable in the field. The proposed project will develop a novel method to transfer useful genes from wild relatives in a precise and targeted manner, without the accompanying undesirable traits. This will improve agricultural yields. The proposed project will develop a quick, targeted, and precise method of transferring value-added genes from wild relatives into crops, without accompanying unwanted genes (linkage drag). While the crop plants can easily be crossed to their wild relatives, chromosomes of wild relatives do not pair with their crop plant counterparts. This is due to a strict chromosome pairing and recombination control that is present in all crop plants. Lack of chromosome pairing between crop and wild relative chromosomes results in the transfer of whole chromosomes/arms carrying thousands of genes of which only one or two are useful. Tremendous efforts over the last 70 years have resulted in the transfer of 540 genes from wild relatives into wheat. While each transfer effort took more than 10 years, fewer than 10 of these genes are actually present in wheat varieties, mainly because of the associated negative effects of linkage drag as almost all transfers are complete chromosomes, arms or large segments. The proposed project will develop a novel method to transfer value-added genes from wild relatives into crops in less than a year without any linkage drag. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.