A U.S. plant breeding firm has patented a gene conversion technology that enables it to insert new traits into canola in a fraction of the time and cost as existing breeding techniques.
Cibus LLC president Keith Walker said where a company may spend $30-$50 million US getting a new product to market using classical transgenics, Cibus can do it for one-tenth of that amount using its Rapid Trait Development System.
“We can provide a broader scope of opportunities to farmers because of the lower cost nature of our technology,” he said.
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And, he said, Cibus can deliver a broader array of products in a fraction of the time. Walker said Cibus should be able to get a new trait to market in three to five years compared to 10-12 years for a traditional type of genetically modified crop because it is a more targeted technology that generates less red tape.
The technology is based on a gene repair process that operates exclusively within the genome of the plant. Because no foreign genes are used to produce the desired trait the company anticipates no market acceptance issues.
“If you can deliver certain value-added traits in a non-GM mode, you simply open up markets that are otherwise not attainable at this time, like the EU and Japan,” said Walker.
Dave Hickling, vice-president of canola utilization with the Canola Council of Canada, is skeptical about that claim.
There would still be regulatory issues with Europe due to strict tolerance levels for GM contamination. It would be extremely difficult for Cibus to ensure its crops were completely free of GM canola seed, he said.
But he is intrigued by the speed with which the company can develop new traits. The technology could be used to better respond to customer calls for quality traits like high oleic canolas.
“That has some potential,” said Hickling.
Denise Dewar, executive director of plant biotechnology at CropLife Canada, said if the technology delivers on the promise of rapid trait development while avoiding the market acceptance issues of GM crops, it could be a real benefit for the grain sector.
“If it is that silver bullet, I think it’s great for the canola industry and any other crop where it can be utilized.”
Walker said herbicide tolerant canola will likely be the first crop commercialized by the San Diego, California, company.
It wouldn’t be the first non-GM herbicide tolerant canola. BASF has already developed Clearfield products through mutagenesis, a chemical process that accelerates natural crop mutations.
Cibus also plans to develop shatter-resistant canola, lines with specialized oil profiles and to use the technology to modify the oil itself so it can replace petroleum in a wide array of industrial products.
The company intends to roll out its crops in the U.S. first, where its Rapid Trait Development System has received United States Department of Agriculture approval as a safe technology that does not require the extensive testing associated with GM crops.
The planned commercialization date is 2009.
Introduction in Canada will likely be delayed a few years due to this country’s more all-encompassing regulatory environment that looks at all plants with novel traits, not just biotech crops.
Dewar said that might annoy Canadian canola growers who will want access to the crop at the same time as their American counterparts.
While its herbicide tolerant canola will put Cibus into head-to-head competition with major biotech companies, it generally plans to avoid duking it out with them.
Walker said the main focus of the large biotech companies tends to be corn, cotton and soybeans.
“All the rest of the crops have been left at the station when the train pulled out.”
So in conjunction with its work on canola, Cibus is also developing new lines of sorghum and rice using its proprietary technology.
Earlier this month the company announced a collaboration with the U.S. National Grain Sorghum Producers Foundation to develop and commercialize new traits for that industry.
“There is a lot of opportunity out there without us frankly having to cross paths with a lot of these major corporations,” said Walker.
Another natural fit for the company would be to develop herbicide tolerant wheat because the wheat industry has traditionally resisted GM crops.
But Walker said Cibus is working with a limited research budget that doesn’t allow them to dabble in every crop.
Since it was founded in 2001, the company has been capitalized to the tune of $20-$30 million. That’s a total budget of about $5.5 million per year.
“If I had a $150 million research budget, boy, I’d be doing a lot more than I’m doing today,” said Walker.
