Key Takeaways
- Pairwise and Bayer have renewed their partnership for five more years, highlighting previous successes in gene editing.
- The collaboration aims to optimize short-stature corn, which may enhance resilience against climate change.
- Pairwise has launched its Fulcrum platform, featuring advanced gene-editing tools such as REDRAW and SHARC.
New Collaboration Between Pairwise and Bayer
Today, Pairwise announced a significant five-year partnership renewal with Bayer, following their successful collaboration that concluded in June. This initial partnership led to the development of 27 innovative traits integrated into Bayer’s testing programs. Notably, these projects included corn varieties exhibiting a 20 percent increase in kernel row numbers per ear and gene-edited soybeans with enhanced resistance to Asian soybean rust. These advancements are poised to boost agricultural yield while potentially decreasing reliance on chemical treatments like fungicides.
The extension of this partnership signifies Bayer’s endorsement of Pairwise and illustrates a broader acknowledgment among major agricultural companies of the importance of utilizing gene editing technologies to tackle the challenges posed by climate change.
The renewed collaboration will focus on enhancing gene-edited short-stature corn for Bayer’s Preceon Smart Corn system. This variety is designed to be 30 to 40 percent shorter than traditional corn, providing more robust protection against crop loss linked to climate-related changes, such as extreme weather and rising temperatures. Short-stature corn’s reduced height facilitates more precise application of growing inputs, thereby lowering the risk of crop failures.
Pairwise CEO Tom Adams emphasized the importance of this height reduction, stating, “The shorter stature allows growers to optimize their operations and minimize risk, an ever-increasing concern in the face of climate-related events.”
In addition to this partnership, Pairwise revealed its newly branded Fulcrum platform, which encompasses its various gene-editing intellectual properties. The platform includes tools such as REDRAW, which is described as a precise editing toolbox capable of making small modifications at CRISPR-targeted sites. It also features SHARC, a proprietary enzyme that performs effectively for cutting, base editing, and REDRAW editing. These advancements collectively establish a comprehensive and transformative genome editing toolkit.
Overall, this partnership and the novel tools under the Fulcrum platform represent a significant leap forward in agricultural technology aimed at enhancing crop resilience and sustainability amid changing climate conditions.
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