Disease-resistant rice varieties created by means of genome editing

The “Healthy Crops” consortium, an international team of researchers, which includes Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU), has – in collaboration with the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO) – developed an innovative strategy to combat the disease Bacterial Blight (for short: BB) in rice using genome editing technology. If approved for use by farmers in Kenya, the BB-resistant rice varieties are expected to reduce yield losses associated with the disease in the affected rice growing regions and increase productivity.