New carrot breeding collaboration targets disease resistance

Vegetable breeding company Bejo and tropical seed industry firm Tropic Biosciences have entered into a collaboration using Tropic's Gene Editing Induced Gene Silencing (GEiGS®) technology platform to develop disease resistance in carrots. The partnership focuses on introducing GEiGS®-mediated resistance into Bejo's elite carrot germplasm.

The aim is to create precision-edited carrot varieties with resistance to pathogens that continue to threaten global carrot production. Carrots are among the most widely cultivated vegetables worldwide, with annual production exceeding 45 million metric tonnes. The sector faces pressures from soilborne and foliar diseases that in some seasons have reduced yields by up to 50%. These diseases also affect quality, shorten storage life, and reduce marketability, leading to post-harvest losses.

According to Bejo, the project combines its breeding and phytopathology expertise with Tropic's platform to explore the potential of RNA silencing in crop resistance. Marc Bots, Director of Research & Breeding at Bejo, said, "At Bejo, we are continuously looking to help our growers improve quality and yield in the most sustainable way. Teaming up with Tropic and combining our capabilities in biotechnology, breeding, and phytopathology gives us a great opportunity to achieve that goal. We expect that Tropic's GEiGS platform offers the potential to deliver innovations in disease resistance by delivering on the long-standing promise that RNA silencing has brought us."

The collaboration aims to expand Bejo's use of New Breeding Technologies, with the intention of developing non-GMO carrot varieties that are resilient to diseases and better adapted to environmental stress.

Jack Peart, Chief Development Officer at Tropic, commented, "This partnership with Bejo exemplifies the power of combining established crop-breeding experience with cutting-edge biotechnology. By applying our GEiGS® platform to Bejo's elite germplasm, we aim to deliver durable, non-GMO disease resistance to secure the future of carrot production worldwide."