Yield10 Bioscience, Inc. announced it has signed a collaboration agreement with UK-based Rothamsted Research to support Rothamsted’s Flagship Program to develop omega-3 oils in Camelina sativa. The technology developed by Rothamsted could enable the sustainable, plant-based production of omega-3 (DHA+EPA) nutritional oils that closely mimic the composition of southern hemisphere fish oil, an important ingredient in aquaculture feed. Omega-3 oils are also essential for human nutrition and have demonstrated benefits in heart health.
Rothamsted Research is a world-leading nonprofit research center based in Harpenden, U.K., that focuses on strategic agricultural science to the benefit of farmers and society worldwide. Over the last decade, the team led by Johnathan Napie, science director, has demonstrated the production of DHA+EPA oils in Camelina seed. In addition, Prof. Napier’s team has carried out multi-year field trials and multiple feeding studies using the DHA+EPA Camelina oil in different fish species including salmon. Under the agreement, Yield10 will provide support to Prof. Napier’s ongoing research including further DHA+EPA trait improvement, field testing and nutritional studies. As part of the agreement, Yield10 has an exclusive two-year option to sign a global, exclusive or non-exclusive license agreement to the omega-3 technology.
“Yield10 shares our vision for developing Camelina as a commercial crop for omega-3 oils based on a land-based route to production,” says Angela Karp, Rothamsted director and chief executive officer. “Successful commercialization of this technology could have significant benefits, offering sustainable production of an oil essential for nutrition and wellness to consumers, as well as providing crop diversification to growers. Yield10 has described numerous innovations for improving the performance of Camelina and has demonstrated commitment and leadership in the development of Camelina as a new commercial crop. We look forward to advancing our mission of improving sustainable agriculture working with the Yield10 team.”
“Yield10 is developing Camelina as a platform crop for the production of nutritional oils and PHA biomaterials and we believe there is significant market opportunity for omega-3 oils produced in Camelina and the technology developed by Professor Napier and his team at Rothamsted is highly complementary to our development efforts in Camelina,” says Oliver Peoples, president and chief executive officer of Yield10 Bioscience. “The Rothamsted team has successfully illustrated the key steps in a potential path for commercial development for the technology including stably deploying the DHA+EPA omega-3 oil pathway in Camelina, conducting field tests at scale in the UK and Canada, and publishing feeding studies to demonstrate the nutritional properties of the oil. Under this collaboration, we will have the opportunity to further assess the omega-3 oil technology and ongoing progress by Rothamsted while Yield10 continues to focus on developing elite varieties of Camelina and establishing a strategic business plan to identify opportunities for commercial development for this high value oil.”
