Yield10 Bioscience, an agricultural bioscience company, announced today that UK-based Rothamsted Research Limited has granted the company an exclusive worldwide commercial license for advanced technology to produce sustainable omega-3 products in the plant species Camelina Sativa, a common oilseed crop.
Over the past decade, the Rothamsted team, led by Professor Jonathan Napier, has demonstrated that omega-3 oils can be produced from camelina seeds and has carried out human clinical trials to evaluate the oil in feeding salmon and to demonstrate its lipid-lowering effects.
Yield10 has announced that it plans to use genetically modified camelina to commercially produce omega-3 oil and meal products targeted at the aquafeed, pet food and nutrition markets. If the company’s plans are successful, the genetically modified plants could offer a more sustainable alternative to the omega-3s currently used in aquafeed, such as fish oil and meal.
Currently, the primary source of the two common omega-3 fatty acids, EPA and DHA, is ocean-caught fish, with omega-3 oil produced from anchovy harvesting being the industry benchmark. In recent years, overfishing has placed increasing pressure on omega-3 oil supplies.
“We expect to submit key regulatory documentation in 2024 with the goal of executing the scale-up of camelina to produce omega-3 and prepare for the first commercial launch into the oil and meal market,” Yield10 CEO Dr Oliver Peoples said in a press release.
“We also expect to improve current camelina varieties over time, particularly with the introduction of herbicide tolerance and other performance traits,” he added.
