Heat-tolerant strawberry partnership targets climate resilience

Plantik and Hudson River Biotechnology are developing heat-tolerant strawberries using genome editing to prevent crop failures in warming climates.

Plantik Biosciences and Hudson River Biotechnology announced a partnership to create heat-tolerant strawberry varieties through commercial genome editing. The collaboration combines Plantik’s heat-tolerant genomic targets (first validated in tomatoes) with Hudson River’s transgene-free editing methods. Validation trials for the strawberry trait are ongoing as of September 2026. The partnership aims to reduce heat-induced strawberry breeding failures from 90% to maybe 10% by de-risking access to genome editing technology. This addresses a critical vulnerability for vulnerable populations as climate change intensifies. Key to the approach is Hudson River’s BioMaas platform, which enables faster deployment of complex edits in octoploid strawberries—species that require direct genetic modification rather than seed propagation. What to watch: Trial outcomes and EU regulatory progress, which could accelerate adoption. Caveats: Strawberry trials are current, and Plantik’s tomato timeline refers specifically to commercial hybrid varieties, not lab strains.

Source: AgFunder News