Discovering What's Possible from Nature

Genome editing is capturing the collective imagination of scientists.

Research suggests that scientists may one day be able to treat incurable and fatal genetic diseases, modify human immune cells to kill certain types of cancer, and even stop the spread of malaria—a disease which still kills over 600,000 people each year - all through a scientific process known as genome editing. The promise genome editing holds to drive advancements in agriculture is just as inspiring.

Building a better blueprint

At Bayer, we believe that solving farmers’ ever increasing and complex problems, ensuring food security and preserving our planet’s natural resources will not be achievable without innovation in agriculture, including the use of new techniques such as genome-editing. 

In agriculture, genome editing typically looks to improve a beneficial trait or to deactivate an undesirable trait within a plant leading to increased yield, improving resilience to increasingly extreme weather conditions or reducing the need for inputs such as pesticides or fungicides, for example. 
 
For years, “genome editing” was done through traditional breeding methods which selected plants based on their desirable characteristics and how they react in the environment. Scientists worked at the speed of the crop’s growth cycle to produce new varieties over a decade or more. But with an ever-increasing understanding of genetics and the discovery of genome editing tools like CRISPR, we can now “fine-tune” a plant’s own genetic make-up to create, more quickly, precisely and predictably desired traits and therefore a better crop. 

Many changes introduced by genome editing are comparable to changes that are naturally present by the millions in a plant’s DNA all the time. While small, these changes can have significant impact enabling scientists to:

• Improve resilience to increasingly extreme weather conditions, including drought 
• Increase yield 
• Resist existing and emerging disease and pests thus reducing inputs (e.g., pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers) 
• Respond to changing consumer demands and preferences by increasing shelf-life, nutritional value or improving flavor and appearance
• Adapt to new agronomic systems

This technology, therefore, has the potential to solve some of the ever increasing and complex challenges faced by farmers, consumers and the planet.

How is Bayer using Gene Editing?

We are exploring the application of genome editing in the development of seed and microbial products to both accelerate and expand the range of solutions and alleviate the global pressures that are putting both food security and the future of our planet at risk. Bayer’s R&D focus areas for genome editing include improvements to plant architecture (or plant body itself), improved yield, quality and disease resistance, centered on our row crop portfolio.

Short corn growing next to traditional corn in the Marana, Arizona greenhouse.

One of our most exciting concepts is Short Stature Corn. which grows 30 to 40 percent shorter than traditional hybrids but with comparable yield per corn ear. We are exploring Short Stature Corn through multiple technology approaches including traditional breeding, biotechnology and genome editing. Utilizing multiple technologies will allow us to create the highest quality crop and bring this innovation into the broadest possible geographies and environments.