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St. Louis, Missouri
August 1, 2001
One year after
Monsanto Company (NYSE:
MON) 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. Scientists
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.
Company news release
N3698
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