FASTER CROP BREEDING
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News
Published: November 19, 2006 (Amarillo Globe-News, Texas, farm briefs column)
Cibus announced a collaboration with the National Grain Sorghum Producers Foundation on Thursday to develop and commercialize new traits directed toward the sorghum industry using its proprietary gene conversion technology known as the Rapid Trait Development System.
This collaboration could transform the way seeds with new traits are produced, while answering the concerns that surround genetically modified crops. Unlike genetic engineering, which takes exotic genetic material from one species and inserts it into another, thus producing GMO crops, RTDS introduces genetic traits through a natural process of gene repair within the very same plant species. RTDS operates exclusively within the genome of the plant, just like normal plant breeding, and thus eliminates environmental and health risks as well as other unintended and unknown consequences associated with GMO crops.
The technology delivers the advantages that farmers seek in GMO crops such as herbicide tolerance or increased yield, but also benefits from the clear path to market and consumer confidence of traditionally bred plants, according to information from the company.
