Capabilities and Technology Leadership

Dow Cotton - the New Industry Standard

The National Cotton Council (NCC) establishes cotton varieties as Standards for its own National Cotton Variety Trials in the 5 primary growing zones across the cotton belt.  These high performing Standards are included with leading commercial entries in a series of replicated trials paid for by the NCC, to provide the industry with a clear picture of the relative competitive nature of new commercial varieties.  The trials are organized and conducted by public USDA and state scientists to build a consistent multi-year data base of yield, fiber performance, and seed qualities of the major market share varieties.  To be eligible for consideration as an NCC Standard, a variety must be proven as top tier in terms of yield and yield stability with good fiber quality.  The NCC Standards are reviewed every three years and the list revised as necessary.

Upon review of current candidates, the NCC established Phytogen™ cotton variety PHY375 WRF as an NCC Standard for the Southeast United States.  This is a remarkable if not unprecedented achievement, considering PHY375 WRF was not commercially available prior to 2008.  The selling point in the Committee's discussions was the variety's overwhelming performance in yield performance trials (#1 in most locations across the Southeast and early maturity markets in University trials), coupled with excellent fiber quality.  PHY375 WRF will be an NCC Standard for the next 3 year period

 

EcoZome™ New Century Formulation Technology

 

Dow AgroSciences award winning EcoZome technology is a novel formulation system that consists of very small droplets (typically 150 – 200 nm) of active ingredient dispersed in water and stabilized by a lamellar liquid crystal coating. Dow AgroSciences has filed for a patent covering this technology for use with pesticides.

For more information on EcoZome Technology, please link to one of these documents:
EcoZome Technology Presentation (128KB PDF)
EcoZome Technology Fact Sheet (32KB PDF)

 

Natural Products Research and Development

We are constantly striving to find new agricultural solutions that are more effective or overcome resistance to existing treatments.  One approach we take at Dow AgroSciences is looking to nature as a source of new molecules with new modes of action against agricultural pests.  Our Natural Products program screens a wide variety of natural sources including: bacteria, fungi and plants for their ability to produce such molecules.  While we discover some of these sources through our internal microbiology program, we frequently collaborate with other companies and universities to expand our search for new and unusual sources.  We are able to evaluate tens of thousands of samples per year - using technologies as diverse as fermentation, liquid-handling robots, bioassays, molecular fingerprinting by mass spectrometry (MS), and structure identification by nuclear magnetic resonance and MS.  The novel bioactive molecules we discover then serve as fermentation candidates or as templates for the design of synthetic chemicals that can become new commercial products.¹

 

Dow AgroSciences / Sangamo BioSciences Partnership

Dow AgroSciences LLC and Sangamo BioSciences Inc.  are collaborating to accelerate the development of plants with enhanced features.  Sangamo discovered that the naturally-occurring processes of gene regulation, DNA recombination, and DNA repair may be directed to revolutionize human healthcare.  Those same processes exist in plants and will enable the next generation of Precision Plant Breeding.

Enhanced crop performance is the result of improved agricultural practices combined with superior varieties.  Such superior varieties have required years of selective breeding to accumulate desirable combinations of genes.  Modern Precision Breeding methods will improve our ability to bring these desirable combinations together faster.  The expression of new genes and the application of Precision Breeding Methods are yielding benefits such as enhanced crop performance and more nutritious crops.

Dow AgroSciences and Sangamo are developing Precision Breeding methods which harness the power of zinc finger proteins (ZFPs).  ZFPs are naturally-occurring proteins found in all cells of all higher organisms.  Nature uses ZFPs to regulate gene expression. Their nature allows them to be modified to improve the expression of specific genes already in the plant thereby enhancing desirable features.  ZFP- directed gene targeting can be used to insert genes with surgical precision into proven chromosomal locations without interfering with the functioning of natural genes or creating other side effects. Finally, ZFPs can be designed to fine tune specific genes to develop potentially non-transgenic traits.

For more information on the Dow AgroSciences / Sangamo BioSciences partnership, please link to one of these documents:
News Release related to Sangamo Milestones
Site-Directed Homologous Recombination in Tobacco Cell Cultures via Zinc Finger Nucleases 2006 (879KB PDF)
Application of Designed Zinc-FInger Protein Technology in Plants 2007 (616KB PDF)

 

 

 

 

¹Selected Group Bibliography

Duebelbeis, D. O.; Snipes, C. E.; Lewer, P.; Werk, T. L.; Gilbert, J. R.; Martin, L. J.  "Dereplication of Gougerotin in Raw Fermentation Extracts:  A problem Solved by HILIC LC/MS", Poster Presentation, 50^th American Society for Mass Spectrometry Conference on Mass Spectrometry and Allied Topics, Orlando, FL, June 2-7, 2002.

Graupner, P.R.; Carr, A.W.; Clancy, E.; Gilbert, J.R.; Bailey, K.L.; Derby, J.; Gerwick, B.C. “ The Macrocidins: Novel Cyclic Tetramic Acids with Herbicidal Activity Produced by Phoma macrostoma ”; J. Nat. Prod., 2003, 66, 1558-1561.

Graupner, P.R.; Martynow, J.; Anzeveno, P.B. “Spinosyn G, proof of Structure by Semi-synthesis”, J. Organic Chem., 2005, 70, 2154.

Gilbert, J.R.; Lewer, P.; Duebelbeis, D.O.; Carr, A.W. “The Central Role of Mass Spectrometry in Natural Products Discovery”, Chapter 6 in “Integrated Strategies for Drug Discovery Using Mass Spectrometry”, Lee, M., Ed; John Wiley & Sons, N.J., 2005.

Lewer, P.; Graupner, P.R.; Hahn, D.R.; Karr, L.L.; Duebelbeis, D.O.; Lira, J.M.; Anzeveno, P.B.; Fields, S.C.; Gilbert J.R.; Pearce, C. “Discovery, Synthesis, and Insecticidal Activity of Cycloaspeptide E”, J. Nat. Prod., 2006, 69, 1506-1510.

Sheehan, L.S.; Lill, R.E.; Wilkinson, B.; Sheridan, R.M.; Vousden, W.A.; Kaja, A.L.; Crouse, G.D.; Gifford, J.; Graupner, P.R.; Karr, L.L.; Lewer, P.; Sparks, T.C.; Leadley, P.F.; Waldron, C.; Martin, C.J. “Engineering of the Spinosyn PKS; Directing Starter Unit Incorporation”,  J. Nat. Prod.,  2006, 69, 1702 – 1710.

Hahn, D.R.; Gustafson, G.; Waldron, C.; Bullard, B.; Jackson, J.D.; Mitchell, J.  “Butenyl-Spinosyns, a Natural Example of Genetic Engineering of Antibiotic Biosynthetic Genes”, J. Industrial Microbiol. & Biotech., 2006, 33, 94-104. 

Brennan, N.J.; Larsen, L.; Lorimer, S.D.; Perry, N.B.; Chapin, E.L.; Werk, T.L.; Henry, M.J.; Hahn, D.R., “Fungicidal Sesquiterpene Dialdehyde Cinnamates from Pseudowintera axilaris”, J. Agric. Food Chem., 2006, 54, 468-473.  

Dripps, J.E.; Waldron, C.; Lewer, P.; Sparks, T.C., “The Discovery and Development of Novel Insect Control Agents from Natural Products at Dow AgroSciences”, Presented At the Forum on the Development of New Biotic Pesticides in China, Shenyang, People's Republic of China, 2006. 

Crouse, G.D.; Dripps, J.E.; Orr, N.; Sparks, T.C.; Waldron, C. “DE-175 (Spinetoram), A New Semi-Synthetic Spinosyn in Development”, in “Modern Crop Protection Chemicals”, Krämer, W. and Schirmer, U. (Eds), Wiley-VCH Verlag & Co. KGaA, Weinheim, 2007.