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Plant-associated microbes for crop care
Background

Beneficial soil and plant-associated microbes serve several critical roles in plant and crop care, including decomposition of organic matter detoxification, nitrogen fixation and transformation, and transformation of important micro and macro nutrients. The typical biosphere of air, water, and soil contains countless species of microorganisms. This biological diversity represents a potentially powerful crop enhancement tool.  

 

Joyn Bio is a joint venture between Ginkgo Bioworks and Leaps by Bayer, founded to solve the urgent agriculture challenges threatening our global food supply and environmental health using the combination of synthetic biology and beneficial microbes. Joyn's microbe engineering platform starts with a library of highly characterized plant- associated microbes and engineers them with naturally occurring traits to develop solutions that deliver a specific benefit to the plant, such as crop protection or nutrition. Joyn is seeking to expand its existing library of plant-associated microbes via licensing to add to its chassis pipeline for generating engineered microorganisms for crop care.

What we're looking for

We are seeking to license a unique library of microorganisms (Bacteria, Fungi, Yeast, or other unicellular organisms) which are capable of colonizing various plant tissues. Entries can include single strains or libraries of strains. Target applications may include microbes with biofertilizer or crop protection capabilities.

Our selection will be based on the technical knowledge of the strain(s) and the provided rationale or data on colonization. We are interested only in licensing.

Solutions of interest include:
  • Proposals with data on plant colonization will be given top priority
Our must-have requirements are:
  • Microorganisms must be plant associated OR isolated from above ground plant tissue or rhizosphere.
  • Candidate microorganisms should not have known pathogenicity and toxicity to plants, humans, animals or beneficial insects.
Our nice-to-have's are:
  • Colonization characterization of corn and/or soybeans; ideally across a range of growing conditions (including in field settings) and plant genotypes
  • Whole genome sequence of the organism available or willing to allow Joyn Bio to sequence for further characterization
  • Feasible means of fermenting the microbe(s) with standard media components
What's out of scope:
  • Methylotrophic bacteria
Acceptable technology readiness levels (TRL):
Levels 6-9
What we can offer you
Eligible partnership models:
Licensing
Benefits:
Tools and Technologies
Our pipeline, spanning plant microbe interactions, molecular biology, synthetic biology, sequencing and bioinformatics facilities are available for the project.
Expertise
We have a range of technical resources and expertise in areas such as plant microbe interaction, microbial engineering, HTP screening and other facilities such as formulation and fermentation.
Who we are

We’re building the backend of the bioeconomy. Biology is everywhere. At Ginkgo, we see the potential for biology to transform all industries. Working with our partners and growing ecosystem, we design custom organisms that bring new products to life for countless applications.

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