Natural Rubber Production

Rubber is pervasive in our economy, with over 50,000 products requiring natural rubber (NR), including military grade tires. Yet significant global shortfalls are projected. Rubber dandelion (Taraxacum kok-saghyz) produces natural rubber (cis-1,4, -polyisoprene) in root latex vessels (laticifers) almost identical to rubber from the tropical rubber tree (Hevea brasiliensis). Problem: Cost-effective field production is not yet possible due to slow growth rates, weeds, and a short growing season. Solution: Hydroponic systems have no weed or dirt problems, and are not subjected to productivity limitations related to weather, day length or season, resulting in plants reaching a size suitable for analysis and harvest in weeks, not months. The project team will produce plants which preferentially target assimilated carbon to rubber instead of to the storage carbohydrate, inulin, by integrating high throughput, optimized, hydroponics to generate roots of selected and modified plants, using combined CRISPR/Cas9 and other genetic technologies. The team will adapt these plants to American Sustainable Rubber’s innovative hydroponic system to achieve four harvests a year of high root growth and rubber. Outcome/Benefit: A several fold increase in rubber yield achieved through adaptive and optimized vertical hydroponic farming, using 4-D technology, integrating 3D indoor cultivation + 1D multiplication of harvest