Easing rules on gene editing in the Americas, the UK and the EU are drawing a new wave of investment into crop genetics, according to Dr Cian Duggan, co-founder and chief executive of Resurrect Bio, who spoke to AgNavigator at the World Agri-Tech Innovation Summit in London.
Resurrect Bio is building a platform that uses gene editing to restore disease-resistance genes that already exist in crop germplasm. Plants have immune systems made of receptors that detect pathogens and pests, Duggan explained, but diseases evolve and overcome some of them. "What we do is find those defeated resistance genes and design edits to restore them," he said.
The company is targeting Asian soybean rust, soybean cyst nematode, potato blight and several diseases of corn. It says it has published research and filed patent applications supporting the approach, and has proof-of-concept results in potato and tomato.
Duggan said corporate investors have become central to agtech while venture funding stays difficult. "Corporate venture capital is really the linchpin of agtech investment at the moment. Without it, I think we would be in a really dire place," he said, advising founders to combine corporate money with grants, public funding and other non-dilutive capital.
Restoring resistance already present in a crop, rather than adding foreign genes, is the kind of edit that newer rules treat more lightly, which is why the regulatory shift matters to companies like his.
Photo: Сарапулов / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0)
Source: AgNavigator
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