Agrivida and Codon Devices to partner on third-generation biofuels

Biotech company Agrivida, founded in 2002 by researchers from MIT, has announced that it has entered into an agreement with Codon Devices, a synthetic biology company, for the discovery, development, and commercialization of engineered proteins for use in so-called 'third generation' biofuel applications. Under the terms of this agreement, Codon Devices will deliver to Agrivida optimized enzymes to be embedded in crops for biofuels production.

Biofuel production techniques can be loosely divided into three generations: the 'first generation' consists of utilizing easily obtainable sugar, starch and oil resources (seeds, grains, roots) from crops to convert them into biofuels like biodiesel and ethanol; a 'second generation' relies on the conversion of entire crops via biochemical and thermochemical pathways (biomass-to-liquids, pyrolysis, enzymatic conversion of cellulose). This allows for the use of a broader variety of biomass feedstocks. The 'third generation' would consist of engineering crops in such a way that their very properties are tailored to particular conversion processes to yield fuels and bioproducts. Examples of this are engineered trees with a low lignin content (see here and here).

Agrivida, an agricultural biotechnology company, is developing such third generation biofuels by creating corn varieties optimized for producing ethanol. First generation methods for manufacturing ethanol make use of the corn grain only, leaving the remaining plant material, such as the corn leaves, stalks, and husks in the field. Central to Agrivida’s ethanol-optimized corn technology are engineered cellulase enzymes that are incorporated into the corn plants themselves (more here). These enzymes will efficiently degrade the entire mass of plant material into small sugars that can then be readily converted to ethanol (schematic, click to enlarge).

Under the agreement with Codon Devices, the latter company will utilize its BioLOGICTM Engineering Platform to develop enzymes optimized for use in Agrivida’s proprietary ethanol production technology. The optimized enzymes that Codon Devices will develop will incorporate Agrivida’s GreenGenesTM technology, allowing Agrivida to dramatically enhance cellulose degradation.

This collaboration underscores the value of our BioLOGICTM Engineering Platform for the rapid development of superior proteins with desired properties, such as enzymes with highly specialized functions. With traditional approaches to developing such enzymes, this would be a one to two year project with no certainty of the outcome. In contrast, using our BioLOGICTM Engineering Platform, we expect to be able to deliver these optimized enzymes to Agrivida in six to nine months. - Brian M. Baynes, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer of Codon Devices

The agreement further represents the unveiling of Codon Devices’ BioLOGIC Engineering Partnering Program under which partners can gain strategic access to the Company’s proprietary development technologies. The BioLOGIC Engineering Platform combines sophisticated design algorithms with advanced assay and protein engineering capabilities to result in a revolutionary system for the rapid design, discovery and optimization of proteins for specific applications.

An integral component of the BioLOGIC Engineering Platform is Codon Devices’ BioFAB Production Platform which produces high quality synthetic genes at a lower cost and quicker turn-around time than ever before available:
energy :: sustainability :: ethanol :: biofuels :: biomass :: cellulose :: corn :: proteins :: enzymes :: biotechnology :: synthetic biology ::

If successful, Agrivida and Codon's collaboration will usher in a new era for efficient biofuel production that may be transferred to other crops and processing technologies.

The new age of biotechnology has witnessed rapid increases in both the efficiency with which crop genomes can be sequenced, in the speed with which genetic manipulation can be achieved as well as in the preciseness with which new rapid breeding technologies can be implemented. Added to this come rapid advances in the field of protein and enzyme development, partly driven by the search for enzymes to be used in bioconversion processes for biofuels. Finally, the era of synthetic biology has arrived, which promises to create an entirely new universe of highly efficient bioconversion in which crops, micro-organisms and biocatalysts are designed from scratch to yield a whole range of bioproducts driving a true 'bioeconomy'.

We have been working with Codon Devices over the past several months and we are thrilled with this new opportunity to partner with Codon and leverage its BioLOGICTM Platform in our own research and development. Codon Devices’ development of these enzymes will help advance our development and commercialization of technologies that will dramatically improve ethanol production. - Michael Raab, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Agrivida.

Codon Devices, Inc., based in Cambridge, MA, is a privately-held biotechnology company focused on enabling commercial applications of synthetic biology. Codon Devices' proprietary synthesis and design technologies improve the productivity of its industrial, pharmaceutical and academic customers in a paradigm shift to what the Company calls Constructive Biology. The Company's focus is on developing and delivering high-value products and design services in a variety of application areas, including engineered gene libraries, engineered cells that produce novel pharmaceuticals, improved vaccines, agricultural products, and biorefineries for the production of industrial chemicals and energy. Codon Devices' BioFAB platform uses sophisticated informatics, robotics and sequencing technologies to accurately synthesize genetic codes orders of magnitude more rapidly and cost-effectively than other currently available technology.

Agrivida is an agricultural biotechnology company focused on creating renewable, biomass-based alternative fuels and raw materials. We are developing corn varieties that are optimized for producing ethanol from corn stover, otherwise known as "cellulosic" ethanol. Corn stover is, collectively, the leaves, stalks, and husks of corn and it is an inexpensive route to increase yields of ethanol per bushel of corn.

References:
Bibliography of scientific articles from Codon Devices' researchers and on findings used by the company for the development of its proprietary protein design platforms, here.

Biopact: Third generation biofuels: scientists patent corn variety with embedded cellulase enzymes - May 05, 2007

Biopact: Scientists take major step towards 'synthetic life': first bacterial genome transplantation changing one species to another - June 29, 2007