Metabolix Launches Yield10 Bioscience to Develop and Commercialize Innovations in Crop Science
According to the
"The launch of Yield10 Bioscience is a step in our ongoing efforts to refocus our crop science program and create a pathway for potential industry collaborators and investors to participate in the development and commercialization of these exciting technologies," said
Yield10 is leveraging the microbial diversity found in nature to increase carbon fixation and eliminate bottlenecks in plant carbon metabolism, and has developed a transcriptome targeted metabolic engineering systems approach to achieve step changes in crop yield.
Crop yield must ultimately address the twin challenges of enhancing basic carbon fixation via photosynthesis and optimizing the conversion of that fixed carbon into the food product of interest, typically the seed. From a metabolic engineering perspective this is analogous to optimizing the carbon conversion yield in microbial systems, an area where
"Over the last 15 years
Crops utilizing the C3 photosynthetic system such as soybean, canola, rice, wheat and potato account for more than 90% of global food production. C3 crops utilize the rubisco enzyme for CO2 fixation in a system that is 50% less efficient than CO2 fixation in C4 plants such as corn and sugarcane. Evolution has solved some of the limitations of the C3 system through the development of a unique cell structure in the green tissue of C4 plants. The global need for increased food production has focused resources on scientific approaches to convert C3 plants to the C4 photosynthetic system, which is extremely challenging.
Yield10 is also targeting yield improvement in crops utilizing the C4 photosynthetic system such as switchgrass, sugarcane, corn and sorghum. C4 crops are already much higher yielding and more drought tolerant than C3 crops. Yield10 has leveraged the transcriptome targeting module of its T3 platform to identify three novel global transcription factor (GTF) genes in the bioenergy crop switchgrass that result in increased photosynthesis, increased central metabolism and an overall increase in biomass yield. The Yield10 team has identified corresponding genes in both C3 and C4 food and feed crops, and is currently testing these genes in sugarcane and exploring partnerships to advance the technology in corn.
The Yield10 technology platform has generated promising early results in camelina and switchgrass. While there is significant work ahead to transfer and validate these results and transfer the Yield10 technologies to agriculturally significant crops such as soybean, canola, corn, sugarcane, wheat, rice and others, the Yield10 team is excited about the potential for generating step changes in crop yield.
To access a slide deck providing an overview of Yield10 Bioscience, please visit http://ir.metabolix.com/events.cfm.
Investors should note that we announce material information to our investors using our website (www.metabolix.com),
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Safe Harbor for Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements which are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. The forward-looking statements in this release do not constitute guarantees of future performance. Investors are cautioned that statements in this press release which are not strictly historical statements, including, without limitation, statements regarding expectations for engaging collaborators and investors, validating technical results, successfully deploying the T3 technology to achieve step changes in crop yield, transferring the technology to agriculturally significant crops, and building value in Yield10, constitute forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated, including the risks and uncertainties detailed in
CONTACT: Metabolix Contact:Lynne H. Brum , 617-682-4693, LBrum@metabolix.com Media Inquiries: MSLGROUP BostonCaitlin Hunt at 781-684-0770 metabolix@mslgroup.com
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