Cibus joins UK-backed precision breeding effort to protect oilseed rape

Cibus, a US agricultural technology company, has been selected as a technology partner in a UK government-backed precision breeding project aimed at strengthening resistance to light leaf spot, the most damaging disease affecting oilseed rape in the country.

The initiative forms part of the Farming Innovation Programme funded by the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs and delivered with Innovate UK. It reflects the UK’s broader push to accelerate the use of gene editing in agriculture following the introduction of the Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Act in 2023.

The project brings together a consortium of 12 academic and industry partners, including the John Innes Centre and the University of Hertfordshire, to develop oilseed rape varieties with more durable disease resistance. Cibus will apply its proprietary gene-editing platform to reduce crop susceptibility to light leaf spot, a fungal disease estimated to have caused up to £300m (roughly $410m) in yield losses in 2022 alone.

Known as LLS-ERASED (Light Leaf Spot Enhancing Resistance and Reducing Susceptibility with Editing), the program focuses on “switching off” specific genes that increase vulnerability to infection. The aim is to produce high-yielding varieties with durable, multi-disease resistance while shortening the time required to move new traits from research into commercial breeding.

Researchers involved in the project said the collaboration is designed to overcome a long-standing bottleneck in crop improvement: transferring disease-resistance traits from laboratory research into elite agronomic backgrounds suitable for farm use.

The initiative also serves as a test case for England’s updated regulatory framework for gene-edited crops, which distinguishes precision breeding from genetic modification and is intended to position the UK as a hub for applied gene-editing research.

For Cibus, the partnership extends its work in canola and oilseed rape, the first crop in which the company deployed its gene-editing system at scale. The company develops and licenses plant traits to seed companies rather than producing seed itself. Its oilseed rape pipeline includes traits targeting pod shatter reduction, herbicide tolerance, disease resistance and nutrient use efficiency.

Defra has committed at least £21.5m (nearly $30m) in funding across 15 innovation projects in England and Wales under the Farming Innovation Programme, with a focus on improving farm resilience, cutting emissions and boosting productivity through applied research. The programme follows the UK’s 2023 Precision Breeding Act and is intended to accelerate the development of disease-resistant and climate-resilient crops as chemical controls are withdrawn.

If successful, the LLS-ERASED project could lead to the first precision-bred oilseed rape varieties reaching UK growers, at a time when disease pressure and regulatory uncertainty have weighed on confidence in the crop as a key break crop within arable rotations.