Sustainable Oils to develop camelina varieties via gene editing
Sustainable Oils Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Global Clean Energy Holdings Inc., an ultra-low carbon renewable fuel company that will use nonfood camelina as their primary fuel source material, on Aug. 8 announced a joint licensing agreement with Corteva Agriscience and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard for CRISPR-Cas9 and related gene editing tools to further develop their patented camelina varieties.
Under the agreement, Sustainable Oils has the ability to use the technology to create targeted changes to camelina DNA and incorporate desirable new traits such as high oil yield, quick maturity, herbicide tolerance, drought tolerance, and other desirable traits. The technology is expected to result in shorter development timelines and lower costs than traditional breeding methods.
“We are excited to add CRISPR-Cas9 technology to accelerate our camelina breeding practices,” Jerry Feitelson, chief scientific officer of Sustainable Oils said. “Using this powerful plant breeding innovation, we expect to further expand our IP portfolio of advanced camelina varieties, which is already the largest in the world. Through state-of-the-art breeding methods, optimal agronomic advances, and large-scale logistics we hope to drive the carbon intensity of our finished fuels close to or below zero.”
For more information on the Broad Institute, visit www.broadinstitute.org.
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