A New Paradigm in
Crop Trait Expression:
“Unlocking” Plant Traits On-demand
Helping Crops Do More
GeneNeer’s TR8™ Regulation Platform is an exciting tool for seed developers and grower, providing greater flexibility and control in expressing plant traits on demand.
Climate-related traits, such as drought tolerance, impose a lot of pressure on plant physiology and reduce crop yield when expressed uncontrollably. Using GeneNeer’s technology, these traits will be locked (will not be expressed) in the seed, and growers will be able to activate the trait on-demand for a limited time (1-2 weeks), by applying an inducer via irrigation or aerial spray; the trait may be reactivated by reapplying inducer, as needed). The activated traits will enhance crops’ resilience to the targeted stress-inducing conditions, by temporarily unlocking the relevant trait gene for a limited period and re-locking the trait gene, ensuring optimal crop performance during the stress period.
PREPARE
Lock the trait
TRIGGER
Monitor environmental
conditions for
trigger events
ACTIVATE
Activate inducer
application system
with sprays or irrigation
and unlock the trait
REGULATE
Unlock & Re-lock traits
for complete control.
Sample Crop Traits:
Drought Tolerance
Herbicide Tolerance
Crop Size
Crop Yield
Virus Resistance
Pest Tolerance
Successful PoCs
GeneNeer’s R&D team has been conducting research to test numerous applications using its TR8™ Regulation Platform and has produced favorable results
in multiple areas:
Drought Tolerance
GeneNeer’s TR8™ Regulation Platform was used to induce and activate drought tolerance genes in a model plant. This process was accomplished through genetic engineering (GE) involving genes known to affect drought tolerance.
Herbicide Tolerance
GeneNeer’s platform was successfully employed to lock a trait for herbicide tolerance in the plant and unlock it under induction. When the herbicide was applied to the “locked” plant, the plant was susceptible to the herbicide. However, when the GeneNeer inducer was applied to the plant, unlocking the herbicide resistance trait, the plant was able to survive and thrive, even while exposed to the herbicide.
Herbicide Tolerance
GeneNeer’s platform was successfully employed to lock a trait for herbicide tolerance in the plant and unlock it under induction. When the herbicide was applied to the “locked” plant, the plant was susceptible to the herbicide. However, when the GeneNeer inducer was applied to the plant, unlocking the herbicide resistance trait, the plant was able to survive and thrive, even while exposed to the herbicide.
Crop Size
A plant size trait was introduced into the plants. While locked, dwarf leaf size was observed, but when the GeneNeer inducer was applied, unlocking the size trait, the plant grew to nearly three times the size of the locked plant in just 3 weeks.
