In partnership with Jake Malone’s Group at the John Innes Centre (JIC), FOLIUM Science has been developing its patented Guided Biotics® technology to provide solutions to the issues caused by bacterial blight in many staple food crops.
Using FOLIUM Science’s Guided Biotics® technology, the aim is to disrupt and prevent bacteria-mediated losses in crops and boost the overall performance by promoting a productive microbiome.
Funded by an Innovate UK award in Q1 2019, the project is focussed on pathogens such as Xanthomonas and Xylella. Xanthomonas blight is a significant challenge to sustainable food production, affecting more than 400 species of plants. Some species of Xylella create issues in crop production and quality due to their widespread occurrence and resilience to traditional crop protection products.
New developments in the Guided Biotics® technology has resulted in greater capability to make and deliver product candidates and the opportunity for a wider range of Guided Biotics® that will have the ability to control important microbial pathogens.
During the project, FOLIUM Science purchased unencumbered worldwide rights to several unique and proprietary strains of epiphytes; organisms recognised for their ability to protect some plant species from fungal infection. The integration of the naturally protective attributes of these strains into FOLIUM Science’s Guided Biotics® platform will accelerate the development of products that will be widely used to combat the devastating losses to crop yields in world food crops caused by bacterial blight.
The commercial potential for the Guided Biotics® products has been recognised by additional funding from Innovate UK. This enables the JIC and FOLIUM Science project team to carry out trials of these product candidates and generate data to demonstrate efficacy in specific crops.
Project leader and Chief Development Officer at FOLIUM Science, Dr Simon Warner says “Our Guided Biotics® technology has the potential to change the way that bacterial disease in crops is treated. The fact that the project has made such good progress is reflected in the ability to progress to trials with a view to generating the first sets of data in the first half of 2021”
For more information on FOLIUM Science’s Guided Biotics® technology, download the Technical Guide here http://foliumscience.com/our-technology/
