Biotech advance heralded:
Ames firm says technique speeds crop engineering

Anne Fitzgerald Register Des Moines Register 26sep01

A new Ames company says it has developed breakthrough technology that will shorten the time and lower the cost of genetically engineering crops such as corn and soybeans.

The company, Phytodyne Inc., is backed by Des Moines financier John Pappajohn and is the first company to come out of Iowa State University's Plant Sciences Institute.

Articles about the new technology have been published in scientific journals, including Trends in Genetics. Commercial application is a couple of years away.

Backers say the technology could reduce the time it takes to develop and market a genetically engineered plant to four to five years from the current six to nine years.

The new method, still in development, uses viruses to insert genetic material into plants and to direct it to specific spots within them. It is akin to what happens in human gene therapy when diseased genes are replaced with healthy copies.

Existing methods insert genes into plants randomly. The advantage of the new technique is that it will increase the efficiency of genetic engineering by targeting where genes go, said David Wright, a plant geneticist who first explored the approach as an undergraduate student at Iowa State.

Wright teamed with Dan Voytas, a professor in ISU's department of zoology and genetics, to develop the technology. The scientists also have devised a way to alter genes already in plants.

If Phytodyne's technique works, it "would be a huge breakthrough," said Martin Yanofsky, a molecular geneticist at the University of California-San Diego and a plant development specialist.

For years, scientists have genetically engineered plants by using particle bombardment, which employs a so-called gene gun to blast genes into plant cells, and another process that uses agrobacteria to insert genetic material.

Both are random processes. "You have to run through a lot of different plants to find one that's valuable," Wright said.

Scientists have tried to find alternative ways but have had little success, said Yanofsky. "The efficiency has always been so low, and nobody has been able to overcome that," the California scientist said.

The Iowa scientists' work has caught the eye of the agricultural biotech industry and could carry a huge payoff. Already, transgenic crops cover more than 100 million acres globally. By one estimate, the world market for genetically engineered crops could reach $25 billion by 2010.

At this point, Wright and Voytas do the genetic modification in laboratories using petri dishes, like the existing methods of genetic engineering. But the scientists are devising a way to insert genetic information by spraying young plants, which then would be transplanted to fields for seed production. If successful, the technique will eliminate the need for tissue cultures, saving time and money, they said.

"That's what we're pitching. That's what we're shooting for," Voytas said.

Iowa State owns patents on some of the technology and has patents pending on the rest. Phytodyne has exclusive rights to the technology and plans to license its use to others. In addition, the company would do contract work for seed companies and other businesses, including some that would employ plants to produce human and animal pharmaceutical products.

"All of these companies need to be able to transform plants," said Jon Leafstedt, chief operating officer of the company.

The new engineering technique relies on three products:

* RetroGene, which uses viruses like the retroviruses used in human genome therapy to insert genetic information into plants;

* Chromosome Homing, which enables the inserted material to be sent to a particular location within the plant;

* Gene Editor, which allows scientists to alter genetic material already in a plant.

While RetroGene would compete with established methods of inserting genetic material into plants, the other tools give Phytodyne a unique edge over competitors, officials said.

"If any one of those three worked, we would be very excited, and we think we would have a viable company," Voytas said.

ISU's Plant Sciences Institute helped get the project off the ground. Stephen Howell, director of the institute, said the company could be a model for other Iowa ventures aimed at harnessing plants' untapped potential for a wide array of products.

Walt Fehr, an agronomist in charge of agricultural biotech-based research at Iowa State, applauded the project, saying it involves Iowa innovators, venture capital and research facilities.

"It's a model we've always wanted in Iowa," he said.

At the same time, Fehr cautioned that "the proof will come when they're actually applying it."

Voytas agreed.

"What we write in our journal articles is one thing," he said. "Whether or not it has commercial value, that's something else."

Grants helped venture get off the ground at ISU The Ames Small Business Development Center, the Iowa Department of Economic Development and ISU's Pappajohn Center for Entrepreneurship have helped Phytodyne get started.

The Center for Advanced Technology Development at Iowa State gave the venture $50,000 for seed money, and the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md., contributed $100,000. The scientists are seeking an additional $750,000 from the NIH.

Financier John Pappajohn's Equity Dynamics has put money into Phytodyne and has an ownership position in the company. A spokesman declined to say how much Pappajohn has put into the company.