SBIR-STTR Award

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will identify commercially-important genes in Pinctada margaritifera as targets for future manipulation in order to improve the efficiency and profitability of black pearl farming. This work will also attempt to produce transgenic pearl oysters that carry the Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP) transgene under a constitutive eukaryotic promoter. Transgenic animals expressing the reporter gene will be followed to monitor expression patterns of the transgene in a controlled quarantine nursery system. Concurrent experiments will isolate genes involved in growth regulation and nacre formation in this species. Candidate growth hormone and nacre protein genes will be sequenced, compared to known genes of similar function in other molluscs and verified as homologous. The commercial application of this project will be at the high end of the black pearl market that is estimated to be of the order of $ 150 million in the Pacific alone. This project is expected to result in the production of faster growing oysters that yield bigger and higher quality pearls than those currently available.

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will develop the technology to produce faster growing oysters that yield bigger and higher quality pearls than those currently available. Prior Phase I work has already shown the production of the first-ever verifiable transgenic pearl oysters, and the successful isolation of the first nacre gene from Pinctada margaritifera. The proposed work in this Phase II project will demonstrate commercial viability by isolating other potentially-important genes from Pinctada, refining proven transfection methods, and evaluating nacre quality and deposition rates in transgenic phenotypes. Biosecure land-based grow-out of transgenic oysters, as mantle-tissue donors only, will increase application efficiency and overcome environmental concerns. The commercial application of this project will be in the black pearl market that is estimated to be of the order of $ 5 billion worldwide. A U.S.-led expansion of this lucrative industry could provide economic benefits to Hawaii and to U.S.-affiliated Pacific Islands, increasing investment, employment opportunities and self-sufficiency in these remote islands, and reducing the economic burden on the U.S. Government