Dow AgroSciences LLC and Agrisoma Biosciences, Inc. have announced the signing of a research and commercial license option agreement.

The agreement provides Dow AgroSciences access to Agrisoma's proprietary Engineered Trait Loci (ETL) technology on an exclusive basis in major food crops, and on a non-exclusive basis, in other crop species.

This agreement will expand the use of the ETL technology into field crops.

''Dow AgroSciences' strategic investment in Agrisoma's ETL technology will accelerate the creation of new and novel products in crop plants, such as increased levels and improved forms of healthier oils or other beneficial food components,'' said Dan Kittle, Ph.D., Dow AgroSciences vice president for R&D. 

''ETL technology will be an important tool in our 'toolbox' to deliver differentiated solutions enabled by the expression of multiple genes or enhancements in complex biochemical pathways.''

Agrisoma's ETL technology is a patent protected, broadly applicable technology that facilitates the placement of new traits in the native genome of a crop. The ETL technology has been used to engineer oil composition, oil content and yield for the renewable energy market and ETL-engineered crops are now undergoing a second year of field trials at multiple locations. 

Steven Fabijanski, Agrisoma's president and chief executive officer, said, "Agrisoma has demonstrated the utility, stability and performance our ETL technology in a broad range of crops, including important food crops such as soy and canola. Our ETL technology has proven performance, and through this new collaboration with Dow AgroSciences, we hope to be able to commercialise this technology in major global food crops. The research collaboration with Dow AgroSciences complements our industrial crop programme which is focused on creating renewable feedstocks using dedicated bioenergy plants.''

Agrisoma Biosciences Inc. is a private agricultural biotechnology company using its leading edge ETL technology to create new crop varieties engineered for high value applications such as biofuel production and renewable manufacturing feedstock. Agrisoma's ETL technology allows efficient stacking and expression of multiple traits in any crop species.