Our Technology | Agriculture
We have conducted proof-of-concept tests of our genetic sequences in tobacco plants to evaluate their ability to protect plants against a variety of lethal stresses. We found that our sequences provided resistance to multiple diseases and environmental stresses.
Disease Resistance
Fungal diseases damage a wide variety of important commercial commodity and forage crops including soybeans, canola, and alfalfa; and numerous vegetables such as lettuce and carrots. These diseases decrease crop yield and increase impurities that have to be dealt with during down-stream processing.
White mold, leaf spot, and gray mold are representatives of common fungal pathogens. We used them to challenge transgenic tobacco plants containing our genes. In each case, our genes provided effective protection against the specific disease.
These pictures show the effectiveness of the genetic sequence iDi-176 to fend off each of the diseases as compared to control plants, which do not contain iDi-176.
Environmental Stress Resistance
We also tested the ability of our genes to protect plants against the environmental stresses of drought, heat, and cold. As these pictures show, iDi-176 has the ability to help tobacco plants fend off the effects of severe dehydration, transient high temperatures, and harsh low temperatures.
We believe that the breadth of protection provided by our genetic sequences will be considerably greater than we have currently demonstrated. If we are successful in proving this in large scale field trials, we may be able to help expand the growing area for a variety of crops.
We are now in the process of identifying and testing plant genes that provide similar levels of stress resistance.
