A partnership between Embrapa and Benson Hill Biosystems (BHB), a company with headquarters in North Carolina, United States, intends to use cutting-edge techniques to accelerate the development of plants and broaden the genetic variability of cash crops. The main focus of the cooperation agreement is the use of a new version of the technology Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR), which is considered the most promising one for gene editing due to its efficiency, precision, low costs and easiness of use. BHB's technology resorts to enzymes called Cms to cut the DNA in given points, which allows scientists to locate and edit genes and make the desired changes. Since 2016, Embrapa has been negotiating the use of the technology owned by the American company BHB called CRISPR 3.0 for Brazilian biotechnology programs. Benson Hill Biosystems is an agricultural technology company dedicated to research on plant genetic improvement, and Embrapa is a leader in the development of research for tropical agriculture. The partnership aims at gathering the skills referring to gene editing in the CRISPR 3.0 system and thus accelerate results in terms of the generation of products that can facilitate work in the fields and improve life in the city. Through this partnership, Embrapa will have access to Benson Hill's advances in the CRISPR 3.0 technology and will be able to expand the technical capacity of the Brazilian corporation's Research & Development teams. The goal is to test the technology and increase Embrapa's portfolio of options with CRISPR technology for gene editing. "Gene editing is a revolutionary advance to improve the traditional process of developing plants more quickly and with higher precision", states the researcher Alexandre Nepomuceno, from Embrapa. Benson Hill's portfolio with the CRISPR 3.0 technology stretches Embrapa's possibilities to edit the genome of several species of importance to Brazilian agriculture. When combined with both companies' technical expertise, that enables Brazil to more quickly advance in the genetic improvement of plants, animals and microorganisms”, he says. For Matthew Crisp, president and co-founder of Benson Hill Biosystems, Brazil represents 20% of the planet's natural diversity. “The Embrapa has developed the largest seed bank of Brazil and one of the largest of the world. Our team looks forward to engaging with Embrapa scientists to leverage and conserve plant genetic diversity. According to Celso Moretti, Embrapa's director of research and development, the partnership with Benson Hill will allow added knowledge and quicker generation of results in biotechnology research programs. “The partnership will allow important advances in the obtainment of species with traits that are adapted to the main demands from Brazilian agribusiness in terms of adaptation to climate change, resistance to diseases, and greater energy production by the agricultural sector”, he stresses. Revolution The Embrapa researchers Alexandre Nepomuceno and Hugo Molinari claim there is a new revolution in the development of genetic variability, represented by plants that had their genome edited through precision genetic engineering techniques such as CRISPRs, Zinc-finger nucleases (ZFN) and Transcription Activator-like Effector Nucleases (TALENs), which have already started to reach the market. “Maize hybrids with modified starch composition, which are more interesting for the industry, or mushrooms and apples, whose genomes have been edited to deactivate polyphenol oxidases that cause plant tissue to darken and thus generate products with longer shelf life, are some examples”, the researchers write.“As they do not bear transgenes, in important countries such as the USA., Canada, Argentina and Chile, these products are not considered Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs). In the case of CRISPR technology, another advantage, on top of genetic precision, is the fact it allows one to strengthen or to inhibit a trait of a given organism without the need to include genes from other species. “As they do not bear transgenes, in important countries such as the USA., Canada, Argentina and Chile, these products are not considered Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs). In January 2018, Brazil also started to have legislation that regulates the use of gene editing techniques, in the same lines of the one adopted by the USA, Canada, Argentina and Chile. IThis will allow national public and private companies to participate of the process of developing varieties with high technological value based on precision genomics”, Nepomuceno and Molinari assert. CRISPR at Embrapa At Embrapa, the CRISPR technology has been deemed to be strategic research and a tool with high potential for the development of innovative processes and products and to add value to biodiversity. Curing and preventing animal diseases, and improved agility and precision in the genetic engineering of sugarcane are some of the prospects opened by the technology. At Embrapa Soybeans, CRISPR/Cas has been studied by the researcher Liliane Henning to deactivate genes with undesirable traits and favor the improvement of traits associated with the quality of soybean grains and seeds, change metabolic routes to reduce the action of antinutritional factors and increase oleic acid contents. Alexander Nepomuceno intends to deactivate genes involved in the metabolism of Abscisic Acid, a plant hormone that interferes with mechanisms to increase drought tolerance. To learn more about CRISPR at Embrapa, read the piece about the technology published in the XXI Science for life magazine here. About Embrapa Embrapa, the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation, under the Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food Supply, was founded in 1973. It is a technological innovation company focused on the generation of knowledge and technology for Brazilian agriculture. Since its inception, and with partners of the National Agricultural Research System, Embrapa has taken on the challenge of developing a genuinely Brazilian model of tropical agriculture and livestock to overcome the barriers that limit the production of foods, fibers and fuels in the country. About Benson Hill Biosystems Benson Hill Biosystems combines cloud computing, data analysis and plant biology to generate innovation in agriculture. It integrates crop data and analyses with their own scientists' and partners' biological knowledge and experience. To learn more about the company, access the company page here. Press contacts: At Benson Hill Natalie DiNicola ndinicola@bensonhillbio.com 314-422-7735 At Embrapa Lebna Landgraf lebna.landgraf@embrapa.br +55 43 3371-6061 Translation: Mariana Medeiros