RNAi manufacturing technology complements RNAissance Ag’s developing portfolio of safe and effective bio pesticides.
TechAccel LLC, the private technology and equity Development Company in agriculture and animal health, has recently announced its subsidiary RNAissance Ag LLC has completed an asset acquisition of RNAgri Inc., a Saint Louis-based ag biotech start-up.
RNAgri has developed a platform for the cost-effective production of RNA for use in topical RNA-interference (RNAi) products, including bio pesticides. RNAi is a technology that regulates gene expression without genetic modification.Terms of the asset acquisition were not disclosed.
RNAgri, formerly doing business as APSE Inc., was founded in 2011 and was one of 33 startups to receive a $50,000 grant from the Missouri Technology Corporation’s Innovation, Development and Entrepreneurship Advantage (IDEA) program. The company was also supported by the St. Louis Biogenerator i6 Project, which was its first and largest investor.
“This transaction marks a win for the growing biotechnology ecosystem in Missouri,” noted Michael Helmstetter, Ph.D., founder, president and CEO of TechAccel. “With these assets, TechAccel and RNAissance Ag will further accelerate the application of RNAi technology into crop and other biopesticide applications, in addition to targets in aquaculture and animal health.”
Since 2017, TechAccel and the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center have partnered to advance a novel and proprietary pesticidal RNAi technology with broad pesticidal application. In January 2019, TechAccel founded the biopesticide startup RNAissance Ag with exclusive worldwide license to the technology.
The primary focus of RNAissance Ag is the development of sprayable RNA pesticides, including against pests such as the Diamondback Moth. No previous RNAi product has been effective against the Diamondback Moth, which is estimated to cause more than $4 billion in crop losses annually. The RNAgri platform will add manufacturing capacity to the pesticide design and development efforts.
RNAissance Ag will conduct multiple field trials this summer and fall on the Diamondback Moth and Fall Armyworm. The company has an expanding development pipeline targeting additional pests, and its designs also have applications as pesticidal traits in crop seeds.
With the asset acquisition, two of RNAgri’s associates have joined the RNAissance Ag team effective immediately. Anil Kumar, Ph.D., is a molecular biologist with expertise in genetics and plant breeding. Bert Berla, Ph.D., is a biochemical engineer with expertise in microbial improvement. RNAissance Ag has also completed additional investments in the RNAgri technology production infrastructure, and plans to expand facilities and staffing of the operation in St. Louis as additional projects are added.
