TMG & PlantArcBio announce a global partnership to discover new modes of action to control the Cotton Boll Weevil

Date:06-24-2021

TMG - Tropical Melhoramento e Genética, a Brazilian company dedicated to genetics and plant breeding of soy, cotton and corn, and PlantArcBio (TASE: PLNT), an Israeli Ag-Bio gene discovery company, has announced a new global R&D collaboration aiming to produce cotton resistant to the Cotton Boll Weevil (Anthonomus grandis) using RNAi technology.

Through the discovery and development of RNAi technology to control cotton boll weevil, the partnership aims to combine PlantArcBio's experience in RNAi based products and TMG's experience in genetic improvement and commercialization of genetic solutions for cotton.

With this partnership, TMG looks forward to develop and deliver with PlantArcBio an innovative biological solution as another tool to address the cotton boll weevil problem in Brazil and adjacent markets," said Francisco Soares, CEO at TMG. "This new research initiative will be an important part of our mission to contribute with world demand for food and fiber in a sustainable way that can benefit not only growers, but the entire ecosystem."

Brazil is one of the world's leading cotton producers and the second largest exporter of the plume. All technological resources and research used in genetic improvement and breeding have allowed the expansion of cotton culture in the country. However, the Brazilian farmer faces major difficulties in controlling cotton boll weevil, demanding a high number of pesticide applications and increasing damage to the environment.

PlantArcBio Co-CEO Dr. Dror Shalitin: "By Leveraging both companies' strong capabilities, we are able to develop this solution to address such a harmful insect pest. This technology shall be 100% biological and directed distinctively against the cotton boll weevil without harming the environment, the farmers and the end customers. RNAi based solutions are the next agricultural revolution, and we are standing in its front."