Development of next-generation gene editing technologies for plant health and disease resistance

按产量计算，香蕉是全球第四大重要作物，2019年香蕉产量为1.15亿吨（粮农组织，2021年）。大多数香蕉种植由小农进行，仅在非洲就为7000多万人提供了重要的收入和就业来源（IISD， 2020年）。然而，全球香蕉生产正日益受到快速蔓延的黑叶斑病（BSD）的威胁。BSD会导致叶片坏死，严重影响当地作物产量，对小农的生计造成灾难性影响。BSD已经导致全球香蕉年产量平均减少3%，相当于每年损失约11亿英镑（Strobl和Mohan， 2020年）。由于栽培的香蕉是三倍体和不育的，新的抗bsd品种不能通过常规育种产生。相反，农民依靠在整个生长季节频繁（每周）施用杀菌剂来管理BSD （Bellaire等，2010）。杀菌剂处理成本高达1000英镑/公顷，这对大型种植园来说是极其昂贵的，对小规模农民来说更是昂贵得令人难以置信（Onyilo等人，2018）。杀菌剂的应用也增加了病原体的抵抗力。在全球范围内，BSD管理已占香蕉生产成本的27%，同时提高了全球香蕉价格（Yonow et al., 2019）。预计气候变化（香蕉种植区降雨和温度增加）将进一步增加BSD的传播（Bebber, 2019）。热带生物科学公司正在开发包括香蕉、咖啡和水稻在内的高性能热带作物的商业品种，以提高种植效率，增强消费者健康，并改善可持续的环境做法。我们的方法依赖于内部开发的专有的、正在申请专利的尖端基因编辑（GE）技术。在Innovate UK的支持下，我们将把我们世界领先的通用电气技术与麻省理工学院和哈佛大学布罗德研究所开发的一项突破性的通用电气技术结合起来。为了展示我们的新生物技术的潜力，我们将开发抗bsd的香蕉植物，并进入实验室验证阶段。该项目的产出有可能在支持英国成为生物/农业技术世界领导者的雄心方面发挥关键作用，与ISCF转变粮食生产的目标密切相关，并解决五个联合国可持续发展目标：1（无贫困），2（零饥饿），5（性别平等），12（负责任的消费和生产）和15（陆地上的生命）。

By production volume, bananas are the fourth most important global crop, with 115 million tonnes of banana produced in 2019 (FAO, 2021). Most banana cultivation is performed by small-scale farmers, providing a vital source of income and employment to over 70 million people in Africa alone (IISD, 2020). However, global banana production is increasingly threatened by the rapid spread of Black Sigatoka Disease (BSD), also known as black leaf streak. BSD causes leaf necrosis and can decimate local crop yields, with a catastrophic impact on smallholder livelihoods. BSD is already responsible for reducing global annual banana production by an average of 3%, equivalent to an annual loss of around £1.1billion (Strobl and Mohan, 2020).Since cultivated bananas are triploid and sterile, new BSD-resistant varieties cannot be produced through conventional breeding. Instead, farmers are reliant on managing BSD through frequent (weekly) fungicide treatments applied throughout the growing season (Bellaire et al., 2010). With a fungicide treatment cost of up to £1,000/ha, this is extremely expensive for large plantations and prohibitively expensive for small-scale farmers (Onyilo et al., 2018). Fungicide application is also driving increased pathogen resistance. Globally, BSD management already accounts for 27% of banana production costs, concurrently increasing the global banana price (Yonow et al., 2019). Climate change (increasing rainfall and temperatures in banana-growing regions) is predicted to further increase the spread of BSD (Bebber, 2019).Tropic Biosciences is developing high-performing commercial varieties of tropical crops including banana, coffee, and rice, which promote cultivation efficiencies, enhance consumer health, and improve sustainable environmental practices. Our approach relies on proprietary, patent-pending cutting-edge gene editing (GE) technologies, developed in house. With Innovate UK support, we will combine our world-leading GE technologies with a novel breakthrough GE technology, developed by the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. As a demonstration of the potential of our new game-changing biotechnology, we will develop BSD-resistant banana plants, reaching laboratory validation stage.This project's outputs have the potential to play a key role in supporting the UK's ambition to become a world leader in Bio-/Agri-Tech, in close alignment with the goals of the ISCF Transforming Food Production and addressing five UN Sustainable Development Goals: 1 (No Poverty), 2 (Zero Hunger), 5 (Gender equality), 12 (Responsible consumption and production), and 15 (Life on land).