A new collaboration between Syngenta Crop Protection and Ginkgo Bioworks aims to accelerate the launch of a new biological solution: a microbial strain that can meet the productivity targets of a secondary metabolite from the Syngenta Biologicals pipeline.
Boston-based Ginkgo is a company that sets out to harness the full breadth of microbial biotechnology for agriculture and has built a major platform for cell programming and biosecurity.
The molecule at the center of the partnership is described by Syngenta as a pioneering biological solution. Successful cost-effective and large-scale production of this targeted metabolite would significantly expedite Syngenta’s go-to-market timeline for its latest biological solution.
To achieve this, Ginkgo will use its Ag Biologicals capabilities to calculate theoretical performance and guide rational strain engineering strategies to develop the microbial strain that is robust enough to meet Syngenta’s goals. Ginkgo will leverage its biological knowledge and machine learning approaches to develop insights from multiple complex data sources and apply this toward diagnosing strain performance limitations as well as biological feature discovery.
Ginkgo says it has extensive in-house DNA sequence libraries and computational search tools for biologicals.
“Biologicals are increasingly important in addressing the need for efficient and sustainable agricultural solutions worldwide. At Syngenta, we are committed to providing farmers with greater complementary product and technology choices that promote sustainable agricultural practices,” said Camilla Corsi, Global Head of Research at Syngenta Crop Protection.
The two companies have previously collaborated on next-generation seed technology. Ginkgo has partnered with numerous ag companies over the years, including Bayer, GreenLabs, Agrivalle, OneOne Biosciences, and Ceres Nanosciences.