Sclerotinia-resistant canola varieties may be in the cards
By Robert Arnason
Reporter
WINNIPEG — A San Diego company is closer to commercializing a trait that could protect canola from sclerotinia.
In April, Cibus announced that two of its disease resistance traits for canola have been designated as “not regulated” by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
“We are encouraged by USDA-APHIS (Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service) broad designation for these traits being developed,” said Cibus co-founder Peter Beetham.
“We are especially excited about the prospect of additional modes of action for crop diseases that will help growers lower cost and improve yields…. We remain focused on working with our customers to advance products containing these valuable traits towards commercialization.”
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Cibus has developed a trait that it says provides genetic resistance to sclerotinia, a disease that’s a persistent challenge for canola growers.
Last year, the canola disease survey in Saskatchewan detected sclerotinia stem rot in 56 per cent of canola fields in the province. Growers rely on fungicides to control sclerotinia, which is a “major disease in canola most years,” says the Canola Council of Canada website.
However, Cibus won’t be designing a new variety of canola with resistance to sclerotinia, also known as white mould.
The company plans to sell its trait to seed companies.
“The licensing of traits and germplasm with quantifiable benefits and strong intellectual property is a large part of the seed industry and is our business focus,” Cibus says in a release.
“We believe future royalties associated with gene edited traits will increasingly dominate the trait royalty industry.”
Gene editing involves changing the genetic code of a plant with technology such as CRISPR-Cas9, a technique used to cut sections of DNA. Scientists from California and France won the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their discovery of CRISPR.
It allows scientists to precisely change a plant’s DNA to achieved desired traits, such as improved disease resistance or healthier oils in the kernel.
American regulators have decided that gene edited crops should be regulated the same way as crops developed through traditional plant breeding.
Canada is taking a similar approach. The government has decided that gene edited crops will be regulated more like conventional plant breeding, provided the plant doesn’t contain foreign DNA.
Cibus disease resistance traits will be considered non-novel and will not be subject to pre-market review in Canada, as no foreign DNA is incorporated at any stage of the process, Cibus said in an email.
“New technologies are needed to help address challenges resulting from increased disease pressure, particularly devastating fungal pathogens like Sclerotinia sclerotiorum,” Beetham said.
“We look forward to working with our partners in the United States and Canada to continue development of these exciting new traits and ultimately offer improved canola varieties to the market that will help growers increase productivity and operational efficiency.”
Prior to hitting the market, Cibus plans to notify Health Canada of its intent to commercialize its trait products through the department’s voluntary Transparency Initiative.
robert.arnason@producer.com
Source: producer.com