Page 13 - AWA Vol.36-No.5

SEEDS

pore of an Oxford Nanopore sequencer,
the device will generate a series of nuc- S&W SEED COMPANY AND ADAMA FINAL-
leotides. A powerful computer compares
the generated series with information IZE COLLABORATION TO PROVIDE THE FIRST
about the regions the researcher is inter-
that the fragment is not part of one of the FULL-SPECTRUM GRASS WEED CONTROL OP-
ested in. When the computer concludes
desired regions, the pore will receive
the signal to push out the DNA fragment TION FOR SORGHUM MARKET
before fully sequencing it. The pore will
then be available again for the next DNA S&W Seed Company, a global agricul- grass weed control. The collaboration
fragment in the sample. tural company with a leading position in agreement has an initial ten-year dura-
This all happens in just a fraction of a sorghum through its Sorghum Partners® tion.
second and requires a real-time compar- brand, and ADAMA, one of the world’s
ison between the sequence of the DNA leading crop protection companies, an-
fragments running through all 512 pores nounced they have entered into a collab-
in the sequencer, and all sequences of oration agreement to bring to market a
selected regions of interest in the plants’ new weed management system for sor-
DNA. ghum growers. This novel solution, to be
marketed as DoubleTeam™, will consist
of S&W’s non-GMO, herbicide-tolerant
sorghum hybrids, and ADAMA’s best-in-
class herbicides. The system is designed
to significantly improve weed control
and grower profitability in sorghum.
The Double-team™ system is ex- The market for the DoubleTeam™
pected to launch in the United States in system will be in the U.S. initially, with
Spring 2021, subject to receipt of regula- possible expansion into Southern Hemi-
tory approvals. Upon commercialization, sphere markets in the coming years. The
Recent research showed that it is in- this new system is expected to be the U.S. Department of Agriculture projects
deed possible to selectively sequence most reliable, full-spectrum over-the- that U.S. grain sorghum production for
regions of human DNA. Plant DNA has its top grass weed control solution for the 2019-2020 will cover 6 million acres an-
own difficulties, such as a large amount sorghum market. Initially, the new Dou- nually with strong exports for the grain.
of repetitive DNA: DNA where the same bleTeam™ herbicide-tolerant sorghum Based on market analysis and manage-
pattern of nucleotides is repeated over hybrids will be available exclusively ment’s evaluation of weed control sys-
and over again. through S&W’s U.S. retail dealer network. tems in comparable crops, the launch of
That is why KeyGene scientists S&W plans to license this herbicide tol- the DoubleTeam™ system is expected to
wondered whether they would be able erance technology to other key sorghum create significant opportunities for both
to do the trick with plant DNA. They seed companies in the future. S&W and ADAMA to expand the market
chose to use the genome of melon, of value and market share.
which they already knew a lot. They “Currently there are limited herbicide
loaded the DNA sequence of 800 regions technologies available on the market
in the melon DNA they wanted to be se- for sorghum farmers to combat difficult,
lectively sequenced. So the computer unwanted grasses, such as Johnsongrass
needed to continuously compare all 512 and field sandbur, leaving farmers with
DNA fragments in the pores of the se- the options of either accepting lower
quencing machine with the 800 regions yields or completely abandoning their
of melon DNA stored in the memory of fields,” said S&W Sorghum Product Man-
the computer. S&W’s CEO Mark Wong, commented, ager Dr. Scott Staggenborg. “The Dou-
Eight times better “The DoubleTeam™ system has the po- bleTeam™ system helps control these
troublesome grasses giving growers the
tential to revolutionize the sorghum mar-
The team was indeed able to better ket in the same way other weed control best opportunity to maximize yield even
use the sequencing capacity of the DNA technologies have enhanced yields for in fields where grassy weeds have his-
sequencer for the regions of interest. crops such as corn, soybeans, and cot- torically limited the sorghum crop’s po-
They were able to make an eightfold ‘en- ton. For decades, sorghum farmers have tential.”
richment’. had very few options to control grassy ADAMA also has a collaboration agree-
The success will make it easier and weeds, which has resulted in decreased ment in place with a technology-based
yields and profitability. We are excited to
less time consuming when one wants to offer our farmer customers a novel, non- rice company. Jake Brodsgaard, U.S.
compare important DNA regions among GMO based solution that has the poten- Chief Executive Officer of ADAMA, com-
different genotypes of plants. Sequen- tial to significantly increase crop perfor- mented, “We already introduced the
cing expert Alexander Wittenberg: mance and their bottom line.” FullPage Rice Cropping Solution and are
‘‘Read Until is a fantastic application that working to develop and market the Max-
requires no specific sample preparation, In the DoubleTeam™ system, S&W will Ace™ Rice Cropping Solution, which
opens new possibilities in crop innova- initially provide high-performance grain integrates ACCase-tolerant rice and AD-
tion research and reduces costs.” sorghum hybrids carrying its new her- AMA’s ACCase herbicide, HighCard™.
Graph: The 800 desired regions of bicide tolerance trait technology devel- This experience in the development of
melon DNA were much more often se- oped using its advanced research and novel herbicide-tolerant systems will
quenced when using the Read Until tool development platform. S&W is develop- help to enhance teamwork with S&W
(green dots) compared to a non-select- ing and expects a future launch of, Dou- and successfully develop and launch the
ive sequencing (purple dots) bleTeam™ silage and forage sorghum DoubleTeam™ ACCase herbicide-toler-
ant system in sorghum.”
hybrids. ADAMA will provide best-in-
Alexander H.J. Wittenberg class herbicides and novel formulations
Scientist Next Generation Sequencing that deliver effectively, broad-spectrum Circle 13 on enquiry card
Circle 12 on enquiry card
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