SBIR-STTR Award

Kultevat Inc. is a start-up company that aims to produce natural rubber from Taraxacum kok- saghyz (TKS) at scale and to achieve 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. This project aims to apply biotechnology and genetic engineering to increase the size/biomass of pre-commercial varieties of TKS with the goal to improve crop yield with resulting higher amounts of rubber and aco-product inulin. An RNAi gene silencing strategy will be used to reduce the activity of genetic repressors that control plant flowering with the goal to delay flowering of TKS. This approach has resulted in a 1-4 fold increase of biomass in crop plants in which it has been applied. The technology referred to as Biomass Enhancement Technology was developed by Performance Plants Inc. and soley licensed to Kultevat Inc. for use in TKS in North America. The immediate goal of this Phase I project is to use standard technology (e.g. Agrobacterium tumefaciensmediated gene transfer) to develop transgenic TKS plants that produce substantially increased biomass per plant and concomitant high amounts of rubber. 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.

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 pricepoint 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 anew US-based industry that will supply markets for natural rubber and inulin.