FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
BASF and Cibus announce collaboration for herbicide tolerant crops
July 10, 2007 (12:00 p.m. EST) — BASF and Cibus, a US plant breeding technology company, today announced that they have reached a collaborative agreement to develop and commercialize non-GM herbicide tolerance in oilseed rape and canola. Cibus’ proprietary gene conversion technology, known as the Rapid Trait Development System (RTDSTM), will be used to enhance the CLEARFIELD® Production System in oilseed rape and canola. The agreement provides an opportunity for enhanced value to be delivered to BASF customers and to increase revenue for both companies. The companies did not disclose the terms of the agreement.
“RTDSTM is a novel plant breeding technology that enables seed producers to develop plants with commercially valuable characteristics such as herbicide tolerance,” said Cibus President Keith Walker. “RTDSTM introduces the required genetic trait through a natural process of gene repair within the same plant species.”
The technology operates exclusively within the genome of the plant, just like conventional plant breeding, but with shorter development times. Traits developed with RTDS™ technology will give growers a greater selection of non-genetically modified herbicide-tolerance solutions to choose from. This is particularly important in Europe, where very few genetically modified products have been approved for commercial use by the regulatory authorities. BASF also develops genetically modified herbicide tolerant crops.
The joint project will enhance the value provided to the market by BASF’s unique herbicide tolerant cropping system, the CLEARFIELD® Production System. The CLEARFIELD Production System combines agronomically advanced seed varieties and custom-designed imidazolinone herbicides to provide extended grass and broadleaf weed control.
Alyson Emanuel, BASF Director, Global Strategic Marketing Herbicides said, “We believe that Cibus has developed a step-change improvement in technology. Cibus’ plant breeding technology will enhance BASF’s powerful pipeline of active ingredients and value added traits for crop protection. It is ideally suited to meet the needs of our customers and presents a unique value proposition in key markets.”
“Cibus’ RTDSTM plant breeding technology constitutes a genuine breakthrough for agriculture. Cibus has established that advanced traits can be achieved in crops using the plant’s natural processes. We are especially pleased to work with BASF on winter oilseed rape and canola in as much as these crops are now among the fastest growing commercial crops in terms of hectares under production in Europe and North America. Bio-diesel demand along with the quest for healthier food oils are driving the expansion of these important crops on both continents,” said Cibus Chairman Stephen Evans-Freke.
The Rosen Group
Shawna Seldon
212.255.7541
Notes to Editors:
About the CLEARFIELD® Production System
The CLEARFIELD Production System has been used extensively since 1995. The system matches carefully selected advanced seed varieties/hybrids with custom-designed imidazolinone herbicides. All CLEARFIELD varieties and hybrids are recognized as non-transgenic by international authorities. At the present time, BASF possesses the world’s largest portfolio of non-transgenic herbicide tolerant traits and has established relationships with over 100 seed companies throughout the world. This strategy of worldwide alliances supports the program with an unmatched offering of seed alternatives to meet the specific local needs and preferences of individual growers.
About RTDS™
RTDS™ technology produces changes within a plant species that could only occur in nature, but does so in a directed way. Thanks in part to recent developments in genome mapping, RTDS is significantly more precise and much faster than conventional plant breeding in the process of new trait development in plants.
RTDS, known as directed mutagenesis, works through the cell’s natural process of gene repair. Every time a cell copies DNA, it makes “scrivener” errors or spelling mistakes. These variations happen all the time, which is how natural variation occurs. Cibus’ technology harnesses the cell’s own natural DNA repair machinery to correct such spelling mistakes, thus directing DNA repair enzymes to correct and repair the targeted gene in a specific way in order to produce a desired trait. This very precise process is similar to altering a single letter in a word contained within a large book.
About Cibus
Cibus is a privately held San Diego-based trait development company. Cibus produces environmentally friendly crop traits for the agricultural community that do not carry the market-resistance or regulatory burden of attributes engineered through the introduction of foreign genetic material. The Company accomplishes this through the application of a new and proprietary technology called the Rapid Trait Development System (RTDS™), which has proven itself in the laboratory with several different crops, and in initial field trials of Cibus’ first commercial crop.
