S88 EXZACT TM Precision Technology: Engineering Plant Genomes with ZFNs
Tuesday, July 22, 2014: 2:00 PM
Regency Ballroom D, Second Floor (St. Louis Hyatt Regency at the Arch)
Lakshmi Sastry-Dent, Mike Ainley, David Corbin, Shreedharan Sriram , Navin Elango, Pon Samuel, Patrick Westfall, Steve Evans, Debby Camper, Joe Petolino and Steve Webb, Dow AgroSciences, Indianapolis, IN
New breeding approaches focused on targeted genome editing are being developed to accommodate an increasing demand for complex multi-trait products in the agricultural industry. The EXZACTTM Precision Technology is a Dow AgroSciences' proprietary technology that facilitates precise changes in plant genomes including point mutations, DNA deletions and targeted gene additions. The technology, based on Zinc Finger Nucleases (ZFNs), is being developed for precision transformation and gene stacking for production of multi-gene trait products in several crops; an operable gene stacking platform for corn using designed eZFNs and EXZACTTM Landing Pads (ELPs) will be described.   In addition, targeting to a safe harbor location (E32) in the corn genome and rapid  targeting methods to interrogate ZFN functionality in planta will also be presented.  

New analytical methods and donor designs to enable rapid targeting methods will also be described.