DuPont and Biotique Systems agree to accelerate research for GM foods

DuPont and Biotique Systems, Inc., have entered into a research alliance to accelerate genetic discovery in agricultural crops globally, bringing better products to farmers faster.

Under the agreement, Biotique will provide knowledge and access to its proprietary “TITAN” solution for next-generation sequence management, marker analysis, and genotype to phenotype association as well as its “Make-Sense” intellectual property portfolio. DuPont business Pioneer Hi-Bred will have access to the platform for agricultural applications and will retain all intellectual property for its genetic information and crops produced as a result of the alliance. Specific milestones and terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

"Pioneer’s sophisticated deployment of new sequencing technologies is bringing new value-added seed technologies to market faster,” said John Soper, vice president – Pioneer Crop Genetics Research and Development. “Our work with sequencing the genes in corn plants is helping us improve the crop faster than ever. This alliance will help us bring those advancements to other crops faster, an important part of increasing farmer productivity to meet future demands in agriculture.”

The platform incorporates a number of methods, tools and technologies. DNA sequence analysis allows Pioneer scientists to better understand the structure and function of genes in plants and other living things. Recent improvements in sequencing technologies have increased the pace of sequence data accumulation by many orders of magnitude and new information platforms are essential to translate this accumulated data into knowledge, and then customer value. The Biotique platform also enables the efficient handling and analysis of the millions of DNA sequence data points generated by Pioneer through use of second and third generation sequencing technologies. When integrated with state-of-the-art molecular marker technologies, advanced bioinformatics and global knowledge management at DuPont, these powerful genetic discovery technologies can dramatically advance scientific discovery and product delivery for customers.

"Pioneer is an excellent choice for an agricultural research alliance,” said Stephen Sanders, co-founder, chairman and chief executive officer – Biotique Systems, Inc. “We are committed to developing and advancing use of the latest genetic technologies in crop science, health care and diagnostics. Pioneer was an early leader in genetic marker technology and the application of next generation sequencing in crop production, and has effectively leveraged this important technology for agricultural applications.”

This collaboration is another example of Pioneer’s dedication to continued improvement in genetic technologies. For example, genetic marker and doubled haploid technology advances at Pioneer have enabled Pioneer researchers to evaluate the commercial potential of more crop genetics in 2010 than in the 80-year history of the company. Pioneer recently introduced high-yielding Y Series soybeans, developed through the proprietary Accelerated Yield Technology (AYT™) System, a novel integration of a proprietary matrix of molecular breeding technologies into the product development process increasing the rate of genetic gain, reducing yield variability and improving performance predictability.