Precision Breeding

Precision breeding transfers genetic material which would naturally cross with a particular plant. It only uses germplasm and genes which are already available to traditional plant breeders; hence the new novel plant derived is not transgenic, and is referred to as “intragenic” or “cisgenic”.

Using genetic engineering tools we are able to silence, amplify or transfers those genes responsible for a particular characteristic into a new plant very precisely, in a single step.  The most common approach uses is to use interfering RNA (RNAi) technology, now commonly used in the medical biotechnology field for gene therapy.

With the advent of an increasing amount of tree fruit genomics data, we are now able to use genes found in the plant species of interest to do what was previously being performed by foreign sourced genes.