VISION: BE A GLOBAL LEADER IN DELIVERING TARGETED, SCIENCE-DRIVEN BIOLOGICAL PRODUCTS THAT IMPROVE CROP PRODUCTIVITY
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OUR VISION: IMPROVING CROP PRODUCTIVITY
enhanced efficiency fertilizers
(EEFs), starters and blends
Higher yield
potential drives
greater nutrient
use efficiency
In-furrow-applied/fertilizer-blended
products that improve nutrient uptake
and overall crop performance
Foliar applied biostimulants that
enhance or stabilize crop yield→
Priority Product Concepts:
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HISTORY
2014 2015 2016 2017
Formed as a business unit within Koch Agronomic
Services in 2014 to pursue biologicals opportunities
Acquired R&D platform assets
of Mendel Biotechnology, Inc.
Strategic minority investment
in Pathway Biologic, LLC
Acquired exclusive rights to sell
Regalia® products for broad-acre
crop applications in U.S. & Canada
2018
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1997 2002 2007 2012 2017
GMO Trait discovery
and development
Performance chemistry
validation and development
Biologicals business
Founding Mission:
improve crop performance by controlling gene activity
December 2014:
KAS acquires Mendel
assets to form:
HISTORY
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PRODUCT CANDIDATES HAVE BEEN IDENTIFIED USING THE MENDEL DISCOVERY PLATFORM
– MBS-102 and MBS-114 are microbial fermentation broths
– Products were applied two weeks prior to the stress treatment
– We are exploring the commercialization of these product
candidates in the professional turf market
experimental treatments (500 mL/1000 ft2)
control(mock)
Creeping bentgrass ‘Memorial’ heat and drought stress
MBS-102 (mL/1000 ft2)
1000500100
Kentucky bluegrass ‘Wildhorse’
heat stress tolerance
control(mock)
qualit
y
time(weeks post-stress)
1
9
2 6
**
*Significant p<0.01
(Fisher’s protected LSD )
MBS-102 MBS-114
controls
time(weeks post-stress)
2 6
ph
oto
synth
etic
rate
controls
*
*
4
14
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THE PLANT GENE REGULATORY NETWORK (PGRN) DATABASE IS A CORE ASSET DEVELOPED OVER 15 YEARS
Droughttolerance
Diseaseresponse
Physiology
Growth rate
transgenic
wild-type
transgenic wild-type
transgenicwild-type
transgenic
wild-type
Schematic of a PGRN
Transcription factors (TFs) are
the PGRN “nodes” that control
target gene expression
The pattern of target gene expression is a diagnostic for valuable
yield components (e.g. disease response, drought tolerance, etc.)
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Product opportunities1°TF
2°TF
3°TF3°TF 3°TF
TARGET TARGET TARGET TARGET
Schematic
of a PGRN:
regulator
s
biochemicals
BIOLOGICAL PRODUCT OPPORTUNITIES ENABLED BY THE MENDEL PGRN DATABASEThe Mendel platform identifies biological products that regulate Plant Gene Regulatory Networks
to drive improved yield and crop performance
microbes
Product candidates are identified based on the
induction of diagnostic target genes
Valuable agronomic yield components (e.g. drought tolerance)
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TRANSCRIPTIONAL PROFILING OF TRAIT LEADS IDENTIFIED DIAGNOSTIC MARKERS FOR YIELD RELEVANT PGRNS
global gene expression fingerprint
PGRNs(each row represents a transgenic line with a
demonstrated trait, e.g. abiotic stress tolerance)
PGRNs
w/trait
PGRNs
w/o trait
Target gene expression
Log
2(r
atio
) The selected target gene is
diagnostic for the trait (e.g.
abiotic stress tolerance)
PGRNsactivated?
no
yes
assay
development
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THE PRODUCTIVITY REPORTER PANEL (PRP) ASSAYS ARE TRANSGENIC ARABIDOPSIS REPORTER LINES
prTARGET LexA:GAL4 LUC GFPopLexA
LexA:GAL4LUC
GFP
5’ promoter sequence for PGRN target gene
two-component “booster” architecture
(U.S. Patent No. 9,322,070)
Target gene-specific molecular constructs are
generated and used to transform Arabidopsis:
Fused luciferase (LUC) and green fluorescent
protein reporter enables flexible quantitation
methods in Arabidopsis seedlings
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PRODUCTIVITY REPORTER PANEL (PRP)HIGH-THROUGHPUT DISCOVERY PLATFORM
Quantifysignal
PGRNactivated?
no
yes
Product candidate for greenhouse validation
96-well microtiter plate containing transgenic reporter line
seedlings (PRP discovery assays) and multiple product
candidates (one candidate per well)
plate tracking
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THE PRP IS A VERSATILE PLATFORM FOR DISCOVERY AND RAPID MOA CLASSIFICATION
– The PRP detects treatment activity
across a range of hormone,
environmental response and
xenobiotic response pathways
– Clustering can rapidly associate
unknown modes-of-action with
treatments with known activities
PRP assays
Tre
atm
en
ts
+
-
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THE PRP IS A VERSATILE PLATFORM FOR DISCOVERY AND RAPID MOA CLASSIFICATION
– Hormones and synthetic compounds with known activities on
abiotic and biotic stress response PGRNs give distinct,
diagnostic signatures across our full PRP assay suite
~50 PRP assays spanning nutrient use efficiency, leaf
physiology, abiotic and biotic stress tolerance PGRNs: +-
ABA
MeJA+ACC
MeJA
NaSA
BTH
Flg22
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PRODUCT CANDIDATE MBS-117 ACTIVATES A PGRN ASSOCIATED WITH LEAF PHYSIOLOGY
– Does the activation of the target PGRN in our plate-based seedling PRP assays translate to older plants treated via foliar application?
• Mendel’s robust global gene expression profiling (RNAseq) platform provides deep mode-of-action insight into product candidate activity
+
-
Subset of PRP assays spanning nutrient use efficiency,
leaf physiology, abiotic and biotic stress tolerance PGRNs:
Strong up-regulation of a PRP assay for a
leaf physiology PGRN
MBS-117
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PRODUCT CANDIDATE MBS-117 ACTIVATES A PGRN ASSOCIATED WITH LEAF PHYSIOLOGY
– Mature plants sprayed with formulated exudates four-days
prior to sample collection
– MBS-117 (in red, left) strongly up-regulates the target gene
relative to other treatments in the same cohort
– MBS-117 significantly up-regulates genes associated with
the ‘photosynthesis’ biological process gene ontology
category (below)
Lo
g(2
) g
en
e e
xp
ressio
n
~150 distinct fermentation exudates
PGRN target gene
media
controls
MBS-117
Gene ontology enrichment:
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INSTANTANEOUS LEAF PHYSIOLOGY VALIDATION PLATFORM
– Gas exchange (Li-COR 6400) based
measurements for quantifying:• light-use efficiency
• water-use efficiency
• photosynthetic capacity
– Routinely used to assess product
performance on Arabidopsis and
wheat
mock( + )
controlphoto
synth
esis
(A
sat)
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REPRESENTATIVE BIOMASS VALIDATION PLATFORMShigh medium low
light
stress
irrigation
levels
high medium low
high medium low
fertilization
levels
high
low
highlow representative images shown
all plots depict dry weight measurements (grams)
n=50,bars=SD; all differences significant (p<0.01)
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PRODUCT CANDIDATE MBS-117 IMPROVES WATER USE EFFICIENCY
– Foliar application on pre-flowering mature plants 4 days prior to data acquisition
– Measured statistic [Photo-c(COND)] correlates with improved photosynthesis and water use
efficiency
Photo
–c(C
ON
D)
negative
controlsExperimental Treatments
positive
control
(↑CO2)
MBS-117
negative
control Experimental Treatments
MBS-117
Arabidopsis Wheat
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KOCH HAS EXCLUSIVELY LICENSED REGALIA® RX FOR BROAD ACRE CROP APPLICATIONS IN NORTH AMERICA
Grower standard Grower standard +
REGALIA® Rx (1 pt/ac)
Data courtesy of
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THE MENDEL PLATFORM CONFIRMS THE UNIQUE MODE-OF-ACTION OF REGALIA® RX
– PRP assays have been identified from initial studies that are diagnostic for Regalia® Rx activity
– We are using the Mendel platform to support the commercialization of Regalia® Rx in the broad-acre row crops
PRP assay 1 PRP assay 2
Regalia® Rx
Treatments
Control
Treatments
Regalia® Rx
Treatments
Control
Treatments
– REGALIA® Rx - group P5• P: host plant defense induction MOA
• 5: site unknown; recognized as a complex mixture with no known resistance
– Ideal resistance management tool when used as a tank mix partner in conventional fungicide programs
– Improves yield by activating immune responses and improving plant health
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2013-2015 SALES DEMO RESULTS REVEAL SIGNIFICANT IMPROVEMENTS IN CORN YIELD
– Regalia® Rx + Fungicide increased yield compared to fungicide alonein 77% of the trials;
– Overall average yield increase for all trials was 4.2 bu/acre (2.5%)
– Average gain across Regalia® Rx + fungicide where a yield increase was observed was 7.2 bu/A (4.1%)
1(grower fungicide program w/ Regalia Rx®) – (grower fungicide program)
ΔB
ushels
/Acre
1
– Regalia® Rx applied at 1 pt/acre
– Applications at V4-V7 or tassel
– Yield adjusted to 15.5% corn grain moisture
Data courtesy of
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field trialsquantitative
physiology
molecular
mode-of-action
microbial
extracts
productivity
reporter panel
control
hit
analytical
chemistry
fermentation
Discovery Agronomy
Development
THE MENDEL PLATFORM SUPPORTS PRODUCT DISCOVERY AND DEVELOPMENT
live
microbes
commercialization
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CONCLUSIONS
– Koch Biological Solutions, LLC was founded in 2014 with the
vision to be a global leader in delivering targeted, science-driven
biological products that improve crop productivity.
– The Mendel technology platform is being leveraged for the
discovery and development of biostimulant products.
– We are building the business through a flexible approach that
includes strategic investments and in-licensing.