Monsanto and 2Blades Foundation are setting out to show that two minds are better than one. Their goal: to discover novel sources of genetic resistance to devastating corn diseases.
“Mid and late season corn disease complexes such as stalk and ear rots are among the most significant corn diseases and are endemic across many major growing regions, with the potential to cause significant yield losses,” said Tom Adams, the biotechnology lead at St. Louis-based Monsanto. “With few effective treatment options or resistant hybrids available, developing new solutions is critical and this collaboration will help bring much-needed disease-resistance solutions to corn farmers.”
Evanston, Illinois-based 2Blades will deliver these resistance genes in collaboration with United Kingdom-based Sainsbury Laboratory, the leading global institute for research on plant-pathogen interactions and long-term partner of 2Blades.
The collaboration compliments Monsanto’s work to discover and develop products that help farmers protect yield with broad-spectrum and durable disease control against economically-important broad acre diseases. 2Blades retains the rights to deploy new leads arising from the program in crops for subsistence agriculture.
