Israeli gene editing firm Evogene (EVGN) has been a big mover in pre-market trading this morning.
EVGN is up some 2.5% pre-market on significant volume, while there’s breaking news of a pivot in the life sciences research around the company’s efforts to combat corn disease.
In a collaboration with Bayer, Evogene is looking at evaluating “genome editing targets,” according to a press release today.
“The edits will be based on Evogene-discovered genes and the accumulated knowledge achieved through this collaboration, focusing on altering gene expression or function,” company spokespersons write. “Any promising targets would be pursued by Bayer’s in-house team for validation.”
Improving resistance to fungal diseases can decrease stalk rot, and thus give farmers additional tools to manage disease in corn, but critics of gene editing see it as a relatively untested scientific process that may harbor hidden dangers.
Evogene’s Ag-Seeds division may emerge as a viable way to improve coins resistance to crop threats, according to company top brass.
Press release writers talk about the process of gene editing this way:
“Crops naturally have genetic variation that result in a multitude of plant characteristics. When cultivating new varieties, plant breeders use a range of tools to select plants within large crop populations with inherently better traits. Genome editing is the latest innovation in a long line of plant breeding techniques used to improve crops, and helps scientists to find and modify a specific stretch of DNA responsible for important plant functions such as grain quality, disease resistance, flavor or fortitude against harsh weather.”
“We are very pleased with this development in our relationship with Bayer, a world leader in the agriculture industry,” added Evogene CSO Eyal Emmanuel in a press statement. “Additionally, the capabilities that we have developed to identify the required edits for the improvement of crop health is a substantial asset not only for our Ag-Seeds division but also for certain of our subsidiaries.”
