Cibus Achieves Additional Milestone for Next Generation Gene Edits for Sclerotinia Resistance in Canola
Cibus, Inc., a leading agricultural technology company that develops and licenses plant traits to seed companies for royalties, has announced that it has successfully completed edits in Canola for its fourth mode of action for its Sclerotinia resistance trait and expects greenhouse results in the first quarter of 2025. Multiple modes of action, which are akin to a plant’s defenses to disease, are critical for durable disease resistance. This advancement builds upon the company’s previously announced field trial results for its 2nd mode of action showing enhanced resistance to Sclerotinia in Canola plants edited with Cibus’ Sclerotinia resistance trait.
Greg Gocal, PhD, Co-Founder, Executive Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer at Cibus, stated, “The advancement of our work to address Sclerotinia demonstrates how Cibus’ technology can accelerate the time to develop traits using complex edits to address needs in agriculture. Sclerotinia is the most impactful disease in Canola reducing yields and is the second most impactful disease in Soybean. While these modes of action are being developed for our Sclerotinia resistance trait in Canola, they have potential in many other crops such as Soybean.”
Today’s announcement represents a major development in the Company’s progress toward providing durable White Mold resistance. Cibus believes that each of its edits for four different modes of action associated with Sclerotinia are unique and address important aspects of the disease pathology.
Rory Riggs, Chairman and CEO added, “Cibus continues to make strong progress with its advanced trait milestones, including targeting gene edits that will provide plants with multiple modes of action against diseases like Sclerotinia. This approach is similar to the use of antivirals in the pharmaceutical industry, where Cibus is providing crops like Canola novel traits to fight off disease infection. Because plant pathogens can evolve rapidly, the company believes that it is important to provide multiple modes of action to develop a trait that is broadly applicable and is durable over time.”
About Sclerotinia
Sclerotinia sclerotiorum is a fungal pathogen, that causes significant disease (stem rot) in oilseed crops. It affects 14-30% of Canola/Oil Seed Rape (OSR) fields annually, and potentially up to 90% as estimated by the Canola Council of Canada in 2016. White Mold can reduce Canola yields by 7-15%, with yield losses per infected plant being as great as 50%. The Canola Council of Canada calls Sclerotinia stem rot the most economically significant Canola disease in Canada It is also a significant disease in soybean with a prevalence of sclerotia recovered ranged between 33.3% (2015) and 78.3% (2020) in soybean production regions and 9.1% (2013). It is most prevalent in warm moist environments.
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