This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will engineer the rate of cereal seedling development by targeting a key gene of starch breakdown. Rapid embryo growth is a problem for the malting industry due to the wasteful production of biomass in the seedlings. Controlling the seedling growth rate provides opportunities for increasing the protein yield of this process. Inhibition of glucosidase via antisense gene expression in transgenic cereal seeds will restrict starch breakdown and glucose production. Restricted production of glucose will control the rate of germination and limit the growth of the embryo while allowing protein production to continue at a high rate in the seeds. Transgenic cereal seedlings can be malted for use as a bioreactor to produce a wide range of valuable proteins, including human proteins for pharmaceutical use and a wide range of industrial enzymes. In the malting industry cereal seeds are traditionally used as sources of amylolytic enzymes and fermentable sugars. Enhanced protein yields resulting from controlling the rate of seedling growth will increase the economic efficiency and competitiveness of both this newly emerging biotechnology industry and the traditional malting industry.
