DuPont buys microbiome discovery company Taxon Biosciences

DuPont has agreed to acquire Taxon Biosciences Inc, a leading microbiome discovery company, in order to increase its in-house capabilities in both seed and crop protection to discover and commercialise biological solutions for agriculture customers globally.
 
“In 2014, the businesses in DuPont’s agriculture, nutrition & health and industrial biosciences segments sold more than $1 billion in biological solutions across four market sectors. Our in-house, cross-business venture, DuPont Biologicals, draws on our world-class science and deep understanding of food and production agriculture markets to deliver value-added crop biological solutions. Taxon has built a leading technology platform for the discovery of microbial based products that will further strengthen our capabilities in biological,” said James C Borel, executive vice president, DuPont.
 
Based in Tiburon (California), Taxon was founded in 2000, by leading microbial geneticists Matt Ashby and Jasper Rine, with the objective of developing a transformational microbial genomics platform to solve critical challenges in agriculture, energy and health sciences. The company holds a broad intellectual property estate in the field of microbial consortia and microbial genomics products which will contribute to the development of new DuPont seed treatment, foliar and soil application products for important row crops, fruits and vegetables.
 
Frank DeGennaro, director of DuPont Biologicals, said, “The acquisition of Taxon will complement and enhance our in-house microbial discovery programs. With this added capability, we expect to accelerate our time from discovery to market and we are field testing biological discovery leads identified by Taxon this year.”
 
Crop biologicals include microbes, plant extracts, and other natural substances used to control pests and improve plant health, quality and yield. As part of an integrated management approach to control pests, biologicals can provide more choice and flexibility for growers, and complement leading-edge solutions for growers available from DuPont Crop Protection and DuPont Pioneer.
 
Taxon Biosciences Inc is a first mover in the industrial microbiome field, utilises proprietary advancements in genomics, bioinformatics and microbiology to identify, resolve, validate and commercialize microbiome-based products from agricultural or environmental settings.