Ludwigshafen, Germany and San
Diego, California, USA
January 27, 2009
- Enhanced herbicide
tolerance in new CLEARFIELD® trait proven in greenhouse and
field trials.
- Results confirm new
technological paradigm for developing valuable traits in
plants.
- BASF to enhance the value
of CLEARFIELD Production System traits for oilseed rape /
canola with Cibus’ RTDSTM (Rapid Trait Development System).
BASF,
the world’s leading chemical company, and
Cibus, a leading plant
trait development technology company, today announced that they
have reached a significant research milestone for developing
CLEARFIELD Production System plants in Brassica winter oilseed
rape and in spring canola. Cibus’ patented Rapid Trait
Development System (RTDS™) was used to enhance the tolerance
levels of spring canola plants to BASF’s popular CLEARFIELD
herbicides. Data from both greenhouse and field trials show that
the new generation of products demonstrates enhanced tolerance
levels to CLEARFIELD herbicides. Additionally, the new and
improved CLEARFIELD traits will enable canola breeders to
develop high yielding hybrids more quickly with greater
efficiencies.
Alyson Emanuel, BASF Director, Global Strategic Marketing
Herbicides, said, “We are very pleased with the success of the
next generation of CLEARFIELD products. BASF worked with Cibus
to develop seeds using Cibus’ RTDS technology to target a
specific trait not previously achieved with other technologies
and the results have been outstanding. As a result of the
development of this new proprietary herbicide tolerant trait
using the RTDS process, seed companies will be able to put this
unique trait into hybrids more efficiently, leading to increased
on-farm yields.”
Production improvements are beneficial for both farmers and seed
company producers, and this novel development will enable a more
cost effective hybrid development program to provide farmers
with higher yielding, superior performing hybrids for the
CLEARFIELD Production System in oilseed rape / canola. BASF
anticipates commercializing the new trait as early as 2013.
Cibus’ proprietary gene conversion technology, RTDS, enables
trait development that is quicker to market with less regulatory
expense. RTDS technology is a non-transgenic approach for
providing plant improvements as compared to classical genetic
transformation. BASF’s flagship brand in herbicide tolerance
weed control, the CLEARFIELD Production System, matches
agronomically advanced seed varieties with custom-designed
imidazolinone herbicides that provide extended grass and
broadleaf weed control to the farmer.
“This innovative new technology adds further confirmation that
valuable traits can be developed in plants without the insertion
of foreign DNA into plants. This is a milestone development for
Cibus and BASF,” said Cibus Chairman Stephen Evans-Freke. “RTDS
technology has broad applications to develop traits in many
different types of plant species. The RTDS technology is very
precise, allowing companies such as BASF to bring their improved
products or traits to market quicker and at lower costs compared
to other technologies. Cibus is committed to developing other
non-transgenic traits for agriculture.”
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.
With sales of €3,137 million in 2007, BASF’s Crop Protection
division is a leader in crop protection and a strong partner to
the farming industry providing well-established and innovative
fungicides, insecticides, and herbicides. Farmers use these
products and services to improve crop yields and crop quality.
Other uses include public health, structural/urban pest control,
turf and ornamental plants, vegetation management, and forestry.
The vision of BASF’s Crop Protection division is to be the
world’s leading innovator, optimizing agricultural production,
improving nutrition, and thus enhancing the quality of life for
a growing world population. Further information can be found on
the web at www.agro.basf.com.
BASF is the world’s leading chemical company. Its portfolio
ranges from oil and gas to chemicals, plastics, performance
products, agricultural products, and fine chemicals. As a
reliable partner, BASF helps its customers in virtually all
industries to be more successful. With its high-value products
and intelligent solutions, BASF plays an important role in
finding answers to global challenges such as climate protection,
energy efficiency, nutrition and mobility. BASF has more than
95,000 employees and posted sales of almost €58 billion in 2007.
BASF shares are traded on the stock exchanges in Frankfurt
(BAS), London (BFA) and Zurich (AN). Further information on BASF
is available on the Internet at
www.basf.com
RTDSTM 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.
Cibus LLC is a privately-held San Diego-based trait development
company that produces crop traits for the agricultural
community. Through the application of a proprietary technology
called the Rapid Trait Development System (RTDSTM), Cibus
creates traits in a directed way with more precision than
traditional breeding techniques and without the introduction of
foreign genetic material. RTDS has proven itself in the
laboratory with several different crops, as well as in initial
field trials of Cibus’ first commercial crop, canola. Further
information on Cibus can be found on the Web at
www.cibus.com.
Always read and follow label directions.
CLEARFIELD is a registered trademark of BASF.
RTDS is a trademark of Cibus
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