EG set out to solve a major problem for the American farmer. Each year, soybean cyst nematodes destroy over $1 billion worth of soybeans in the US alone. Some fields are treated with chemicals and toxins but the environmental damage that would be created prevents wider use of these toxins. EG used its Adapted Traits Platform to compare domestic soybean plants to ancestral varieties that exhibit resistance to nematodes and identified genes that have been positively selected over tens and hundreds of thousands of years. We currently have two genes from wild varieties of soybean plants and one synthetic gene that help the soybean plant to fend off pests and diseases without the use of toxins.
One of these genes, EG261 has been lab validated in an independent academic lab to significantly increase resistance to nematodes. The USPTO has issued patents 8710300, 9834783, 9605274 and 10577625 titled DIRIGENT GENE EG261 AND ITS ORTHOLOGS AND PARALOGS AND THEIR USES FOR PATHOGEN RESISTANCE IN PLANTS and we have applied for patents in other countries around the world.EG261, along with the other genes are currently undergoing two generation, whole plant testing at independent labs to validate their impact on pest and disease resistance. Results are expected in late 2020.
In a project funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Evolutionary Genomics validated the function of EG261 orthologs to determine if they have a similar impact on pest and disease resistance in beans and cowpeas. EG engaged an independent academic lab that validated the effectiveness of these genes in beans and cowpeas and the photo below illustrates the impact. The plants on the left are cultivated common beans challenged with Fusarium fungus and the plants on the right were enhanced with the EG261 ortholog. This example captures and illustrates the effectiveness of EG’s re-wilding process of restoring a plant’s natural resistance to pathogens without toxins.
