Oerth Bio, Durham, N.C., an agricultural biotechnology company targeting protein degraders in plants, and Yara International ASA announced on Nov. 15 a collaboration applying Oerth’s protein degrader technology to crop efficiency applications.
The collaboration will focus on boosting plant resilience to combat escalating climate stress impacting crop production and farm economics. The companies will co-develop products to improve nutrient use efficiency and strengthen plant resilience to climate change.
“This collaboration will catapult Yara’s competitive footprint, offering farmers plant nutrition solutions specifically targeting plant resilience and improved crop quality – setting a new sustainable agriculture paradigm,” said Markus Himken, Yara Senior Vice President of Agronomy and R&D.
The core technology driving Oerth Bio is PROTAC Molecules (PROteolysis Targeting Chimeras) – biologically enabled molecules designed to induce the modulation of specific proteins via the ubiquitin proteasome system. Each region of the PROTAC molecule plays a role in its specificity and potency.