Dow Collaborations Reap Rewards
10 June 2008 Dow AgroScience collaborations with Sangamo BioSciences, Mertec, and M.S. Technologies are leading to research milestones, particularly in trait stacking, gene control, and other seed science.
In a press release, Dow said that its work on ZFP technology along with Sangamo has led to the successful application of the Sangamo zinc finger DNA-binding protein (ZFP) technology to the generation of specific traits in corn and canola.
“Our collaboration with Sangamo continues to be spectacularly successful,” said Jerome Peribere, president and chief executive officer of Dow AgroSciences. “These milestones build on our earlier achievements and demonstrate the versatility and broad applicability of the ZFP platform to both regulate and modify genes in commercially important plant species. We have now proven that the ZFP technology can accelerate the process of "trait stacking," which will result in a shorter path to commercialization of crops containing new traits. We believe ZFP technology has the power to truly transform our industry.”
The technology allows control of the expression of existing genes. Many genes have already been identified in crop species that control the development of major traits relevant to agriculture such as seed quality, yield, and resistance to environmental stresses, but there has not been a technology that allows precise control of the activity of these genes. ZFP technology provides a means to control this activity.
Scientists at Dow and Sangamo used ZFP Nucleases (ZFNsTM) to place a herbicide resistance gene into a specified location of the corn genome in a rapid, single-step process. In addition, the Sangamo ZFP transcription factor (ZFP TFTM) technology was used to achieve a second milestone, the control of the expression of a native gene in canola.
In another release, Mertec LLC and M.S. Technologies LLC entered into a long-term, non-exclusive agreement to jointly develop and commercialize several technologies for use in soybeans globally. Under the agreement, Dow AgroSciences and M.S. Technologies will combine proprietary technologies with soybean germplasm from Mertec. These products will be available first to US soybean growers, with an option to expand globally.
The first product launch will be the Dow AgroSciences Herbicide Tolerance 2 (DHT2) trait, which provides tolerance to the herbicide 2,4-D. The estimated time for launch is 2013. Following the DHT2 trait will be the development of other technologies, including a glyphosate tolerant and 2,4-D tolerant combination.
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