Mendel Biotechnology was founded in early 1997 based on the idea that controlling gene expression would create new opportunities to improve plant productivity and quality.
From 1997-2003, we focused on understanding the functions of a large class of genes called transcription factors, in the model plant Arabidopsis, because each transcription factor can regulate and coordinate the expression of a set of effector genes that together determine specific plant characteristics. Of the approximately 30,000 genes in the Arabidopsis genome nearly 2,000 are transcription factors. By systematically analyzing the function of all Arabidopsis transcription factors, Mendel scientists discovered individual transcription factors that control complex valuable traits such as freezing tolerance, drought tolerance, intrinsic growth rate, photosynthetic output, plant form, disease resistance, water use efficiency, nitrogen use efficiency and numerous other important processes.
We have filed, and been granted, many patents protecting our inventions on the use of transcription factor-based technologies for improvement of plant traits. We believe that no other company or academic institution in the world has a comparable understanding of the function of transcription factors and that Mendel is the leading company in the world in this area.
From 2003 to the present, through collaboration with our partners, a significant number of our transcription factor technologies have been shown to generate commercially meaningful improvements via genetic approaches in crops. Our inventions have been used to produce corn and soybean varieties with improved yield, drought-tolerant corn varieties, freezing-tolerant eucalyptus trees, and drought-tolerant ornamentals. We continue to work with several partners across a number of different market segments to create plants with improved yield and yield stability.
In 2004, we began developing a novel application of our technology platforms and knowledge of plant transcription factor-regulated pathways: the discovery of compounds that could regulate valuable traits by direct chemical application to the plant. Starting again with the model species Arabidopsis, we identified molecules that improve tolerance to freezing, drought, and cold, and in so doing, validated this new chemistry platform. This has led to a collaboration with Bayer CropScience to identify commercially valuable chemistries that enhance stress tolerance, which we anticipate will create an entirely new agrochemical market.
In 2005, we made a strategic decision to pursue biofuels as a new opportunity that we felt would grow significantly over the next decade. A mature global biofuels industry, as it progresses beyond initial approaches such as grain-derived ethanol, will require dedicated energy crops with high biomass yields, low inputs, and sustainable crop practices. Through a collaboration with BP, a leading company in alternative energy, we have begun to deploy both our chemistry and genetics platforms, in combination with conventional and marker-assisted breeding, to create elite, proprietary varieties of energy grasses. As such, Mendel is now creating a BioEnergy Seeds and Feedstocks business that will provide seeds and services to farmers, and refineries, for a second generation biofuels market, based around cellulosic feedstocks, that we envision will become a very large future industry.
