Most crop traits are limited not by which genes a plant carries, but by how those genes are expressed. Classical breeding only reshuffles the diversity that already exists, and a knock-out can only switch a gene off. The richest and least explored source of new traits sits in non-coding regulatory DNA, where a single variant can raise, lower or retune expression, in the right tissue or under the right condition, without touching the protein itself.
Crop traits are typically developed either through classical breeding, cis-genesis or by knocking out the coding sequence. The realm of possible crops is considerably larger when able to make precise edits that can fine-tune or upregulate genes that underlie, for example yield, drought or pest resistance. Non-coding regions are however hard to interpret: a change in a promoter or enhancer may affect expression, but predicting which change works is challenging, especially at scale.
Using SuRE™, we functionally characterize thousands of promoters, enhancers or variants in parallel, validating the most effective targets for genome editing or selection in a matter of months.
Identify edits most likely to create the desired expression change before downstream editing and validation.
Screen every possible single-base change in a promoter or enhancer to find the most promising edits or EMS candidates.
Evaluate variants that may increase, reduce, or alter a gene’s expression, prioritized by trait relevance.
What a project looks like depends on the crop, trait and candidate sequence space. Typically, it involves five steps:
SuRE™ is Annogen’s platform for large-scale functional screening of regulatory sequences. Here, it compares candidate edits or variants in parallel and measures regulatory activity, turning a large edit space into a smaller, experimentally supported one.
Let’s start with your ambitions. Share your challenge, question or how we could improve your therapy or crop. We will help you explore how tailored gene expression can unlock tomorrow’s innovations.
