The partnership will focus on the improvement of plant health and nutrition values of food crops
The partnership will accelerate the development of Meiogenix’s technologies related to plant breeding and genome editing applications (Credit: Markus Spiske from Pixabay)
French biotech company Meiogenix has collaborated with German pharmaceutical and life sciences company Bayer to boost the development of advanced plant breeding and genome editing technologies.
Under the research collaboration, the companies will focus on delivering required plant health and nutrition improvements to food crops to help farmers grow enhanced plant varieties. The move will help farmers to provide the types of foods, as per consumer requirements.
Meiogenix co-founder and CEO Giacomo Bastianelli said: “Over the past decade, we have assembled unique know-how, intellectual property portfolio and network of experts to help generate biodiversity and accelerate breeding through modulating meiotic recombination.”
Meiogenix’s technologies will help exchange genomic regions between chromosomes of plant cells during meiosis
Meiogenix’s technologies are applied to facilitate the exchange of genomic regions between chromosomes of plant cells during meiosis, the natural process that helps to generate genetic diversity during plant breeding.
The meiotic recombination-based technologies will allow commercial crops to access a range of genetic diversity, including complex traits for enhanced food quality, plants’ resistance to diseases and pests, and higher yield potential.
The resulting hybrids and varieties will help deliver value across the food chain ranging from farmers to consumers.
Bayer crop science research and development plant biotechnology head Jeremy Williams said: “Farmers need innovative solutions as they face limited natural resources and a changing climate.
“Access to Meiogenix’s proprietary technologies could improve the precision and speed with which our breeders enhance crops, which could ultimately accelerate those solutions for the diverse needs of people and our planet.”
In November 2019, CLAAS collaborated with Bayer’s digital farming arm The Climate to expand the use of ClimateFieldView digital farming platform in Europe and other regions.
Meiogenix is involved in the development of advanced breeding technologies to enhance the genetic diversity of organisms. Bayer is a global enterprise that has expertise in the life science fields of health care and nutrition.