Natural Rubber Production

Natural rubber is an essential manufacturing material that possesses performance properties that are superior to synthetic rubber for many product applications. However, natural rubber production is limited to a single species (rubber tree) in a limited geographic area (Southeast Asia) and is predicted to be incapable of meeting future demand. Producing rubber from another commercial crop such as sunflower would greatly reduce the probability of a disruption in its supply and potentially make the US independent of imported natural rubber. Sunflower currently accumulates rubber in its leaves at 1-2% dry weight. In order for sunflower to become a commercially viable source of rubber, this level must be increased 3- to 5-fold. The overall goal of this STTR project is to engineer sunflower with higher levels of rubber production enabling a commercially competitive, domestically sourced, rubber crop. Phase I will characterize the role of three potentially key genes in rubber biosynthesis. Objective 1 is to transform sunflower with rubber pathway genes to test their ability to alter rubber production. Objective 2 will characterize the native sunflower rubber manufacturing properties. Phase II will build on the knowledge gained from the Phase I project to develop approaches for engineering improved sunflower rubber production.