ST. LOUIS (August 1, 2001) – One year after Monsanto Company made its draft rice genome sequence data available to the worldwide research community, the data has significantly expanded scientific knowledge and accelerated research projects. These projects can lead to more nutritious and higher yielding rice, a staple crop that contributes to food security in developing countries.
"Monsanto’s goal in sharing this data is to facilitate and encourage research to improve rice and related crops around the world, and we are excited that this goal is being realized," said Hendrik Verfaillie, President and Chief Executive Officer of Monsanto Company. "After just one year, the results of this initiative are substantiating our company’s belief that sharing technology benefits both people and science."
In August 2000, Monsanto completed the transfer of raw draft data and research materials from its rice genome sequencing project to the International Rice Genome Sequencing Project (IRGSP), a multi-country consortium of research institutes working to publish the complete rice genome sequence. The IRGSP recently confirmed that its members have significantly accelerated their timetable for complete publication of the sequence, in large part due to the use of Monsanto’s draft data.
"In the year since Monsanto's genome sequencing data was made available, there has been an enormous increase in the amount of sequence data being deposited in public databases," said Ben Burr, co-lead of the IRGSP. "The result is an expanded knowledge base for the community of scientists working on rice and related cereal species."
"Availability of the sequence data, and the willingness of Monsanto scientists to work with the IRGSP, has enabled project scientists to plan for and implement a complete, high quality draft sequence of the rice genome to be completed next year. Continued enhancements from Monsanto should further facilitate the completion of a physical map for the rice genome."
In addition to sharing its data with the IRGSP, Monsanto established a rice genome database at www.rice-research.org, which makes the data available at no charge, mainly to publicly funded researchers. Since the database was established, more than 650 researchers, many located in developing countries, have obtained access to Monsanto’s rice genome sequence data.
Researchers at Michigan State University (MSU) are using the database in a project to understand how deepwater rice, a subsistence crop in areas of Southeast Asia, survives the yearly floods that would destroy all other crops during monsoon season. MSU researchers are using deepwater rice as a model plant to study the action of plant hormones in rapid stem elongation, a response that helps the rice to grow out of the water when it becomes submerged.
"Access to Monsanto's rice genome database has allowed us to supplement our own database of information and to complete several essential experiments," said Hans Kende, Ph.D., Professor of Plant Biology at MSU and member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. "The data are aiding us in identifying the biochemical basis for the growth potential of deepwater rice, which is a low-yielding type of rice. Scientist may then be able to enhance the growth potential of high yielding rice cultivars, thereby making them suitable for cultivation in deep water."
"It is hoped that results of this work will benefit people in Southeast Asia who depend on deepwater rice as a staple source of nourishment."
Rice serves as a research model for other crops, including sorghum and millet, two foods a recent report by the United Nations Development Program singled out as being a priority for additional research in developing countries. The Human Development Report 2001 also encouraged greater public investment in research and development to ensure that biotechnology meets the agricultural needs of the world's poor. "By sharing fundamental data about the rice genome, we hope to encourage additional research and collaborations that will lead to a wide variety of discoveries to enhance food security and nutritional needs throughout the developing world," said Robb Fraley, Chief Technology Officer of Monsanto.
Monsanto’s sharing of the rice genome sequence data reflects the New Monsanto Pledge and its commitment to sharing of knowledge and technology with public institutions to benefit people and the environment, particularly in the developing world. The New Monsanto Pledge is a commitment to people around the world to develop and sell products in a safe and socially responsible manner. Other specific commitments include dialogue with interested parties; transparency with information and regulation; respect for religious, cultural and ethical concerns; and benefits for growers and the environment.
In June, the company shared important genetic information with the United Soybean Board to help accelerate the board’s goal of developing a soybean with improved oils and protein for U.S. producers, and to provide consumers with healthier soy products in the future. Last year Monsanto also donated a Simple Sequence Repeat (SSR) genetic marker to the Better Bean Initiative to help further the Better Bean Initiative’s goal of developing soybean lower in saturated fats.
Monsanto Company is a leading provider of agricultural solutions to growers worldwide. Monsanto's employees provide top-quality, cost-effective and integrated approaches to help farmers improve their productivity and produce better quality foods. For more information on Monsanto, see: www.monsanto.com.
Making Monsanto’s Technology Available: Sharing and Beyond
Monsanto’s commitment to share knowledge and technology with public institutions to benefit health and the environment is incorporated in the company’s New Monsanto Pledge, a series of commitments that describe the company’s policies for products developed through biotechnology. As a partner and/or contributor to the projects below, Monsanto shares fundamental scientific data; technology, including genes and traits; know-how to move technology into crops important for food security; guidance on environmental stewardship and information on food safety; and licenses to patented technologies – all to develop crops that produce more food, use less pesticide, and improve people’s health around the world.
ARABIDOPSIS THALIANA: Last year, Cereon Genomics, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Monsanto, led a team that year discovered more than 40,000 Arabidopsis genetic markers, increasing the resolution of the genetic map used by Arabidopsis researchers approximately 50 to 100 fold. Cereon made its markers available to the Arabidopsis Information Resource (TAIR) project, which then made the data publicly available at http://www.arabidopsis.org/cereon. The markers, which have been accessed by more than XX labs around the world, contributed to the ability of scientists to completely sequence the Arabidopsis Thaliana genome in 2000.
"GOLDEN" CROPS: Monsanto is working with the not-for-profit Tata Energy Research Institute (TERI), a leading Indian research institute in New Delhi, India, on a multi-year project to develop a "golden mustard" that will yield cooking oil high in beta-carotene (Pro-Vitamin A). Successful development and adoption of the enhanced oil from "golden mustard" has the potential of helping hundreds of thousands of children suffering from vitamin A deficiencies, particularly in northern and eastern India, where mustard oil is commonly used for food preparation and cooking. Michigan State University’s Ag Biotech Support Project is another major partner in this project, which has funding support from the U.S. Agency for International Development.
In addition, Monsanto and other companies offered the use of their technology royalty-free in support of the "golden rice" project, an application of biotechnology developed by researchers in Switzerland to combat vitamin A deficiency. These efforts, which are supported by the Rockefeller Foundation, and collaborations with research institutions around the world will enable further development and delivery of this technology free-of-charge for humanitarian purposes. It is hoped that technology used to develop golden rice and golden mustard oil might one day be extended to other crops in such as maize, a staple food in many African countries where vitamin A deficiency is also prevalent.
MICROBIAL SEQUENCE DATABASE: In April 2001, Cereon Genomics launched a Microbial Sequence Database at www.cereon.com to make important gene sequence information for Aspergillus nidulans (a common bread mold) and Myxococcus xanthus (a soil-born bacteria) available to academic researchers. Sequence data is made available free of charge to investigators at non-commercial research institutions in exchange for granting Monsanto the opportunity to license inventions developed from use of the sequence data. The company shared this information in order to accelerate researchers’ efforts to identify and study certain genes, and to provide a road map for understanding plants and microbes to improve nutrition and health in the future.
PAPAYA: Monsanto supports the Papaya Biotechnology Network of Southeast Asia with technology and training to help develop papaya resistant to a pernicious plant virus that destroys one of Southeast Asia’s most important crops. Formally launched in 1998 by ISAAA, the Network also works to enhance the region’s capacity to develop and deploy other transgenic crops in the future, and includes national institutes in Philippines Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, and Indonesia.
POTATO: In 1991, Monsanto and the Center for Advanced Studies (CINVESTAV) – a government research laboratory in Irapuato, Mexico – embarked on a cooperative project to develop, through use of biotechnology, virus resistance in varieties of potatoes grown by resource-poor Mexican farmers. The partnership was funded by the Rockefeller Foundation and facilitated by ISAAA. The partnership involved having two CINVESTAV scientists work with Monsanto scientists to learn how to conduct potato transformation and apply it to varieties in Mexico. To help facilitate the project, Monsanto granted rights to use its virus-protection technology in certain varieties of potatoes. The research phases of this project are complete and the partners in Mexico are moving toward approval and distribution. When the transformed locally adapted varieties are grown by subsistence growers, they can expect to see a potential yield increase of 10 to 15 percent.
RICE GENOME: In April 2000, Monsanto announced that Dr. Leroy Hood, a University of Washington researcher working under contract for Monsanto, had decoded the genetic make-up of rice and developed the first working draft of a crop plant. Monsanto offered to make its draft rice genome sequence data available at no charge to public researchers involved in the International Rice Genome Sequencing Project (IRGSP).
In August 2000, Monsanto completed the transfer of its rice genome data to the IRGSP and announced the launch of a new Internet web site, www.rice-research.org, which opened its rice genome sequence database to researchers around the world. Also that month, Monsanto announced that it would provide royalty-free licenses for all of its technologies that can help further development of "golden rice" and other pro-vitamin A-enhanced rice varieties.
SMALL HOLDER PARTNERSHIPS: For more than ten years, Monsanto has partnered with universities, corporations, foundations, government and non-government organizations to facilitate the sharing of existing commercial technologies as well as new technologies with resource poor farmers in developing countries. These partnerships provide training for small holder farmers to use certified seeds, herbicides, fertilizers and reduced or no-till farming practices that improve the economics of farming and enable growers to enter into the agricultural marketplace. As a result, small holder families have seen an increase in food security and income, as well as reduced pressure to migrate, to slash and burn and to plow marginal lands for additional food production.
SOYBEAN GENOME: In May 2001, Monsanto donated a single Simple Sequence Repeat (SSR) genetic marker to the United Soybean Board's Technology Utilization Center to build upon the group's ongoing work on the Better Bean Initiative program, which was created to encourage the development and availability of soybean seed with enhanced composition traits. The SSR marker, which identifies the low palmitic fatty acid within the soybean genome, is expected to quickly accelerate the Better Bean Initiative's goal of developing a high yielding soybean variety that produces soybeans significantly lower in saturated fat.
In June 2001, Monsanto announced that it would provide the USB with a series of bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC)-end sequences that will enable scientists to better understand the soybean genome by identifying the location of specific genetic markers on chromosomes within a genome. In turn, the USB will provide the data to non-profit Better Bean Initiative participants to encourage more efficient and accurate plant breeding. Future discoveries developed using these sequences will be widely distributed in the public sector and accessible to the soybean research community.
SWEET POTATO: Monsanto has partnered with researchers in Africa – including the Kenyan Agricultural Research Institute (KARI) and the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA) – to conduct biotechnology research to develop a sweet potato that protects itself from a devastating plant virus that can contribute to reducing yields by as much as 80 percent. Following extensive research, field tests of virus-resistant sweet potatoes have been initiated in Kenya and African farmers may soon be able to grow a sweet potato that protects itself from disease, enabling it to play a critical role in the fight against hunger.