Project Grant 20203353033229

SUMMARY OF PHASE II EFFORT:BY THE END OF THE PHASE II EFFORT, WE WILL HAVE ESTABLISHED A NOVEL PLATFORM FOR ROUTINE FIELD TESTING OF ARBITRARY WATER SAMPLES FOR DICAMBA. THE TEST WILL HAVE A SENSITIVITY RELEVANT TO MONITORING SPRAY EQUIPMENT FOR RESIDUAL HERBICIDE WHICH COULD GREATLY INJURE SENSITIVE NON-ENGINEERED CROPS. WE WILL ALSO DEVELOP NOVEL APTAMERS TO AT LEAST THREE OTHER HERBICIDES INCLUDING 2,4-D, GLYPHOSATE (ROUNDUP), AND GLUFOSINATE. THE DEVELOPMENT OF THESE TESTS WILL FOLLOW WHAT WILL BECOME A WELL-ESTABLISHED PATH TO ESTABLISHING SENSITIVITY AND SPECIFICITY AND FAMILIARITY OF USE FOR GROWERS. TO SUMMARIZE, IN ORDER TO MEET THE PHASE II GOALS, BASE PAIR SCIENTISTS, MOLECULAR BIOLOGISTS, ENGINEERS, AND CONSULTANTS WILL PERFORM THE FOLLOWING MAJOR TASKS:I. BASE PAIR PERSONNEL WILL FINALIZE THE DESIGN OF AN ELECTROCHEMICAL APTASENSOR THAT IS ALREADY PERFORMING WITH A SENSITIVITY ROUGHLY 3000-FOLD BETTER THAN NEEDED TO DETECT INJURIOUS LEVELS.II. WE WILL THEN CHARACTERIZE THE LIMITS-OF-DETECTION FOR TWO OF THE LEADING COMMERCIAL FORMULATIONS OF DICAMBA TO SEE IF ANY ADJUVANT EFFECTS ARE OBSERVED.III. BASE PAIR PERSONNEL WILL ALSO DEVELOP A DILUTION PROTOCOL THAT WILL BE EASY TO PERFORM BY GROWERS AND APPLICATORS WHO WILL SIMPLY TAKE A DEFINED DROPPER VOLUME OF SPRAY WATER AND ADD IT TO A DEFINED ASSAY DILUENT (AD) BUFFER.IV. BASE PAIR MOLECULAR BIOLOGISTS WILL SELECT ADDITIONAL APTAMERS FOR THE SENSOR PLATFORM TO 2,4-D, GLYPHOSATE, AND GLUFOSINATE.V. IN CLOSE COLLABORATION WITH BIOTEX AND METROHM USA, WE WILL DEVELOP A RUGGEDIZED VERSION OF METROHM'S DROPSTAT READER WITH ADDED BLUETOOTH AND/OR LTE COMMUNICATION CAPABILITY FOR USE WITH A CUSTOMIZED CELL PHONE APPVI. FINALLY, WORKING WITH OUR EXPERT CONSULTANT, MR. JOHN COBB WE WILL PLACE APPROXIMATELY 20 BETA TEST UNITS IN THE FIELD WITH GROWERS AND SPRAY APPLICATIONS FOR TESTING, FEEDBACK, AND COMPARISON OF RESULTS WITH GOLD STANDARD LC/MS MEASUREMENTS.