FuturaCold™

On an annual basis, about two thirds of the world’s land is subjected to temperatures below freezing.  And about one third of the land suffers from temperatures below -20°C.  Cold is a harsh climatic factor, which reduces the geographical distribution as well as the growing season of many crop species with the farming industry losing billions of dollars each year to freezing temperatures.

Cold response, like other abiotic stress mechanisms in plants is not conferred by one gene. As such, classical breeding has not been able to achieve frost hardiness in plants. Genetic modification by transferring one gene has not produced plants that are cold tolerant. FuturaGene and its research partners have realized that cold resistance, like other abiotic stresses, is a syndrome that would be best conferred using a multi-gene approach.

Upon exposing a plant to cold stress, FuturaCold™ technology – an upstream transcription factor gets expressed and in turn regulates the expression of key cold genes and other downstream genes. This expression and regulation of FuturaGene’s cold tolerant gene is able, to a very high degree, improve the  cold and freezing tolerance of the transgenic plants at various stages of growth and development.

Our discovery has garnered significant attention from the agricultural community. The transgenic expression of FuturaCold™ gene in cold-sensitive crops like soybeans, tomatoes, potatoes, rice and barley will provide a new way to increase the ability of such plants to survive cold temperatures.