Page 21 - AWA Vol.42-No3

hOrTICulTure

First author of the study Dr Bethany El-
dridge, who was awarded a BBSRC Flex-
ible Talent Mobility Account (FTMA) and Meiogenix Breeding Technology Achieves 10x
a BBSRC Follow-on Fund grant to facili-
tate her central role in this research-in- Increase in Targeted recombination in Corn
dustry partnership, said: “The beauty of
this work is how it marries high tech and Meiogenix, Inc., a biotechnology
low tech in such a cost-effective way. Pea company pioneering novel breeding
shoots are literal sponges for B12, while technologies through targeted re-
vertical farms provide a controllable en- combination to unlock the full genetic
vironment in which we can tailor its up- potential of crops, today announced
take by the plants.
new data showing a 10-fold increase
“This method diversifies ways of getting in meiotic recombination efficiency
B12 naturally into your diet, especially if in corn. Conducted jointly by Cornell
you are not consuming meat and dairy as University, University of Hamburg, and
vegans or vegetarians, or if you are con- Meiogenix, this study used Meioge- assembling desired trait combinations
suming meat and dairy in smaller quan- nix’s technology platform to select and
tities as part of a flexitarian diet. Globally in major crops critical to meet global
B12 levels are in decline and if we can find activate “cold” recombination regions food, feed and fuel demand.
a variety of ways that we can get it into in plant genomes that are normally in- “The ability to combine multiple
food in a bio-accessible way, then that is accessible to breeders. desirable traits in elite lines, whether
exciting.” “Plant breeders are on the front lines through breeding or gene editing, is
Dr Jonathan Clarke, Head of Business De- of every challenge our industry faces, ultimately limited by recombination.
velopment at the John Innes Centre, and from climate volatility to productivity Increasing crossovers at precise ge-
one of the authors of the study said: “The and quality,” said Ricardo Garcia de nomic locations expands the range
challenge we faced is to find a way to pro- Alba, Chief Executive Officer of Meio- of trait combinations that can be gen-
vide a bioavailable source of Vitamin B12 genix. “This 10-fold gain in recombi- erated.” said Dr. Gaganpreet Sidhu,
in a vegetarian meal. The solution came
not through engineering the plant but by nation can help unlock natural genetic Chief Technology Officer at Meioge-
simply exploiting the ability of the plant diversity in crops that was previously nix.
to take up B12 when applied. It is an in- off limits. It helps seed and crop input First-of-its-Kind Precision Breeding
novative, multidisciplinary approach that companies design better products Technology
highlights the strength of the partnership faster, and helps farmers get hybrids
across the Norwich Research Park and its that are more resilient, reliable, and Meiogenix’s platform uses a dCas9
industrial and academic collaborators.” better aligned with the demands of SPO11 1 based system guided to spe-
Professor Martin Warren, chief scientific modern agriculture.” cific genomic sites to increase the
officer at the Quadram Institute and one of Conventional breeding practices frequency of crossovers, redirecting
the authors of the study, said: “Vitamin B12 a process that already exists in the
deficiency is often framed solely as a con- rely on genetic diversity generated by plants. Meiogenix technology does
cern for people following vegetarian or meiotic recombination, a process that not edit individual genes; instead, it
vegan diets, but the reality is far broader. is largely random, infrequent, and con- boosts natural recombination where
Across many populations, inadequate B12 centrated to a limited portion of the breeders need it most and is designed
intake contributes to what nutritionists genome. Engineering targeted mei- to complement other tools like marker
call ‘hidden hunger’ – micronutrient de- otic recombination can help overcome assisted selection, genomic selection,
ficiencies that occur even when people these constraints by increasing the and gene editing.
consume sufficient calories. Developing frequency of recombination events at
practical ways to incorporate B12 into ev- desired loci, thereby accelerating the “Important traits can be inherited
eryday foods, such as these fortified pea together with undesirable ones be-
shoots, offers an exciting route to improve assembly of elite trait combinations. cause some chromosome regions
nutritional resilience. It demonstrates how This announcement follows Meioge- rarely recombine,” said Olga Zimina,
advances in agriculture and food technol- nix’s recently published peer reviewed a postdoctoral associate at Cornell
ogy can help address a quiet but signifi- report in Frontiers in Plant Science
cant global health challenge.” University who led the work in Dr.
that demonstrated dCas9 SPO11 1 fu- Wojtek Pawlowski’s laboratory. “Our
Jack Farmer, Head of Research and De- sion can locally stimulate meiotic re- work provides a way to keep benefi-
velopment at LettUs Grow, said: “The ex- combination in rice. As two of the most cial traits together while breaking un-
citing thing about this project is that it is important food crops, these findings wanted linkages. This technology can
the first time the enhanced yield potential
of aeroponics has been combined with support a multi crop, targeted recom- be of great benefit for breeders result-
the nutrition enhancement of B12 fortifi- bination platform aimed at efficiently ing in better crop varieties.”
cation in a way that can be scaled up to Circle 26 on enquiry card
commercial volumes.” Circle 25 on enquiry card
Vol. 42 No. 3 19