FuturaGene, a Sao Paulo, Brazil biotechnology company in the
forestry industry will collaborate with Donald Danforth Plant
Science Center in St. Louis to apply FuturaGen’s yield
enhancement discoveries to food crops in developing countries.
Financial and intellectual property aspects of the deal were not
disclosed. FuturaGene, a subsidiary of the Brazilian forestry
products company Suzano Pulp and Paper, will provide its
biotechnology discoveries for increasing yields of woody biomass
to the Danforth Center for testing with food staples grown by
farmers in Brazil, as well as Asia and Africa. The first tests
are expected to involve model plant species, and if successful,
then expanded to specific food crops. The studies also aim to
boost plant biomass levels and make crops more suitable as
animal feed. FuturaGene’s research on yield enhancement has so
far been applied to plantation forestry products and biomass
feedstocks for biofuels, such as poplar and eucalyptus. The
company’s work in this area focuses on r