Awards issued prior to january 20, 2025, were funded under previous administrations and may not reflect the priorities and policies of the current administration.** natural rubber…

Awards issued prior to january 20, 2025, were funded under previous administrations and may not reflect the priorities and policies of the current administration.** natural rubber (CIS-1,4-polyisoprene; NR) is a vital commodity that is used in the production of tens of thousands of consumer products, with applications in industries ranging from medical devices to shoes and tires. Synthetic rubber (SR) is also used in the manufacturing of many products, however, IT is not renewable like NR and IT is synthesized from petroleum oil byproducts. SR is inferior to NR in many chemical and mechanical properties. IT cannot replace NR in most applications, including the majority of tires. An overly simplified way to view IT is that the bigger the tire, the higher the percentage of natural rubber used in compounding and formulation. Therefore, the transportation, construction, mining, agricultural and defense sectors of the economy are all impacted by NR production. The market is also strong for NR in other applications; approximately 20% of NR is sold into non-tire markets in the US, often at substantially higher cost (i.e., VS the tire market) for the rawmaterial. Currently, the main worldwide source of NR comes from hevea brasiliensis, the para rubber tree. IT is being produced in a relatively small climatic region in southeast asia and there are many biological, economic, and social threats facing today's NR supplies.kultevat, INC. Aims to produce natural rubber from taraxacum KOK-saghyz (TKS) at scale to achieve high quality product at a price point that is attractive to customers, in particular to US based companies. To date, the economics of growing TKS and extracting rubber from its roots at a price point that is competitive with hevea rubber has not been demonstrated. During phase i research, an rnai gene silencing strategy was used to reduce the activity of genetic repressors that control plant flowering, with the goal to delay flowering of TKS. The technology, referred to as biomass enhancement technology (BET), was developed by performance plants INC. And was soley licensed to kultevat, INC. For use in TKS in north america. A similar technical approach resulted in a 1-4 fold increase of biomass in crop plants in which IT has been applied. The immediate goal of this phase II project is to scale up confirmed T0 TKS-BET lines by clonal propagation to use for T1 seed production. Cellular, molecular and biochemical characterization will be done to verify (1) an increase in cell/biomass growth and (2) total rubber content per plant, of ensuing T1 plant lines. The best T1 lines identified will be used in pollen-crossing to produce pre-commercialization T2 varieties. Success will lead to future r & d to develop a commercial variety for the US, spawning a new US-based industry that will supply markets for natural rubber and inulin.