Agronomy

When it comes to Agrobiotechnology, Cellectis offers the technology to improve certain properties of plant crops through the replacement, addition or suppression of genes of interest or the modulation of their expression. Five of the world’s leading seed producers – BASF, Bayer Cropsciences, Pioneer, Limagrain and Monsanto – already use Cellectis technologies.

Meganucleases can be engineered for use in any plant species. Cellectis uses its technology and expertise to provide seed producers with Meganucleases to make targeted modifications in plant genomes and develop the next generation of quality crops. The modifications that bring added value to existing plants include gene stacking, gene knock-out, as well as modulation of gene function.

There are two kinds of “plant-upgrading”: ‘input traits’ and ‘output traits’. ‘Input traits’ involve adding to plants a certain kind of resistance in order to reduce costs or to increase productivity. One can, for example, put in a plant a protection against insects, or a resistance to herbicide. Plants may also be given a protection against pathogenic agents, such as viruses and fungus, or they may as well be given a resistance to environmental stresses (drought, frost, etc.) The second kind of upgrading, the ‘output traits’, involves improving the plant’s qualitative aspect. In that case, one can improve the nutritional value of a plant, as in the example of the genetically modified rice which contains a high level of iron and of Beta-carotene (precursor of Vitamin A). It is also about being able to produce therapeutic molecules, with added value, like there is now genetically modified trees with less lignin and more cellulose for paper industries. It is the same for the production of biodegradable plastic.

Thanks to Cellectis’ technology, one would, for instance, be able to suppress markers, these genes that are used to make sure a genetic modification went well. Nowadays, when doing a DNA transfer into a plant, the gene of interest is jointed with a marker. The latter, for example a gene of antibiotics resistance, allows the observer to check whether the genetic transfer took place; therefore whether the gene of interest was successfully integrated.

Cellectis is developing partnership agreements with the Top 7 firms of the agricultural Biotechnology sector, in order to get its approach of Genome engineering using meganuclease wildly used and accepted within this field of application. Cellectis partners can thus break free from the random transgenesis methods conventionally used in these organisms. Cellectis has created a network of licensed users, who have access to its technologies and its meganuclease engineering platform for the development of agricultural Biotechnology products.

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