Agrivida Technology
Agrivida's Breakthrough Approach
Agrivida is advancing breakthrough technology by developing proprietary crops and processing techniques to dramatically reduce the cost of producing renewable chemicals, fuels, and bioproducts from non-food cellulosic biomass. The company's GreenGenes™ technology is designed to provide an integrated solution for delivering low-cost sugars that are essential for industrial bioproducts. Specifically, Agrivida's products and processes will:
GreenGenes™ Technology
The GreenGenes™ technology is based on engineering cell wall-degrading enzymes into plants in a dormant form. The enzymes, which accumulate in high concentrations during plant growth, are activated (i.e. through heat or a pH change) post-harvest through proprietary processing techniques to break down cellulose into simple, fermentable sugars. This innovative approach addresses a key challenge in engineering enzymes into plants; insertion of active enzymes can adversely affect plant growth and performance.
Agrivida's GreenGenes™ technology involves engineering these new traits with self-splicing peptides, called inteins, to prevent enzyme activation during growth. After harvest, the inteins are removed during processing (e.g. through heat activation), the enzymes reform, become active and break down cellulose.
Agrivida has received significant outside support for developing its technology, including grants from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the U.S. Department of Energy's ARPA-E program, the U.S. Department of Energy, and the National Science Foundation.
Technology Validation
Agrivida has demonstrated a number of key elements of its approach in both corn stover and switchgrass. Specifically, the company has demonstrated in multiple studies that:
The core technology has additional potential use as a platform for engineering traits to enhance crop yield, pest resistance, use as feed, cotton scouring, and facilitate biopharmaceutical production in plants.
Agrivida is advancing breakthrough technology by developing proprietary crops and processing techniques to dramatically reduce the cost of producing renewable chemicals, fuels, and bioproducts from non-food cellulosic biomass. The company's GreenGenes™ technology is designed to provide an integrated solution for delivering low-cost sugars that are essential for industrial bioproducts. Specifically, Agrivida's products and processes will:
- Significantly reduce the cost of enzymes and pretreatment for biomass hydrolysis and saccharification
- Drastically reduce or eliminate the need for new enzyme production capacity
- Create new markets for lignocellulosic biomass, such as corn stover, which is currently unused.
GreenGenes™ Technology
The GreenGenes™ technology is based on engineering cell wall-degrading enzymes into plants in a dormant form. The enzymes, which accumulate in high concentrations during plant growth, are activated (i.e. through heat or a pH change) post-harvest through proprietary processing techniques to break down cellulose into simple, fermentable sugars. This innovative approach addresses a key challenge in engineering enzymes into plants; insertion of active enzymes can adversely affect plant growth and performance.
Agrivida's GreenGenes™ technology involves engineering these new traits with self-splicing peptides, called inteins, to prevent enzyme activation during growth. After harvest, the inteins are removed during processing (e.g. through heat activation), the enzymes reform, become active and break down cellulose.
Agrivida has received significant outside support for developing its technology, including grants from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the U.S. Department of Energy's ARPA-E program, the U.S. Department of Energy, and the National Science Foundation.
Technology Validation
Agrivida has demonstrated a number of key elements of its approach in both corn stover and switchgrass. Specifically, the company has demonstrated in multiple studies that:
- Plants engineered with GreenGenes™ enzymes develop normally
- Heat activates the engineered, intein-modified enzymes
- Plants expressing even a single enzyme generate glucose conversion of corn stover comparable to an externally added enzyme
- Agrivida plants require less pretreatment and significantly lower enzyme loadings to produce simple sugars from their biomass
The core technology has additional potential use as a platform for engineering traits to enhance crop yield, pest resistance, use as feed, cotton scouring, and facilitate biopharmaceutical production in plants.