Ginkgo Bioworks said July 16 it has entered into an agreement with Syngenta Crop Protection to develop new biological agricultural products.
Bioworks is developing a platform for cell programming and biosecurity.
Ginkgo plans to develop and optimize a microbial strain that can meet the productivity targets of a secondary metabolite from the Syngenta biologicals pipeline, the company said in a news release.
This molecule is earmarked 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, according to Ginko.
To achieve this, Ginkgo will use its Ag Biologicals capabilities to calculate theoretical performance and guide rational strain engineering strategies to develop a microbial strain that is robust enough to meet Syngenta's goals.
Ginkgo will leverage its biological knowledge and machine learning capabilities to develop insights from multiple complex data sources and apply this toward diagnosing strain performance limitations, as well as biological feature discovery.
"Biologicals are increasingly important in addressing the need for efficient and sustainable agricultural solutions worldwide,” said Camilla Corsi, global head of research at Syngenta Crop Protection. “
