Bayer CropScience, Precision BioSciences Collaborate On Genome Modifications

Matt Hopkins Posted by Matt Hopkins|4 September 2009

Monheim, Germany based Bayer CropSciences has announced a collaborative agreement with biotechnology company Precision BioSciences Inc., headquartered in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, US to create site-specific genome modifications in plants, reports Business Wire. The agreement provides Bayer CropScience with non-exclusive access to aspects of Precision BioSciences’ proprietary Directed Nuclease Editor (DNE) technology, which can be used to develop novel traits in plants. Using DNE technology, which uses advanced protein engineering methods to produce rationally designed, obligate heterodimer endonucleases (enzymes) which have the ability to modify single, unique sites within a large genome, crop researchers can insert multiple genes at a single site within a plant chromosome, thereby efficiently and precisely conferring desirable traits into plant species. Used to streamline the trait development and breeding processes, DNE technology can potentially accelerate a trait`s time to market.

Under the agreement, Precision BioSciences provides Bayer CropScience with multiple DNE-engineered enzymes for use across the company`s crop platforms.

 

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