The problem, says North Carolina-based startup Upstream Biotechnology, is that genes conferring disease resistance can also impose a yield penalty. “Upstream is developing a differentiated platform that could become an enabling technology for disease resistance and crop resilience across multiple crops. “We’re using the plant’s natural [disease resistance] traits and adding a new control layer on top to improve how those traits perform. In some cases, for example, partners might introduce a disease resistance gene in tandem with Upstream Bio’s SwitchBlade tech. “We’re not doing gene discovery [for disease resistance].