Monsanto Company and Sapphire Energy Enter Collaboration to Advance Yield and Stress Research

Monsanto Company MON and Sapphire Energy, Inc. today announced an agreement to enter a multi-year collaboration that will leverage Sapphire's algae-based research platform to discover genes that could be applied to agriculture, particularly in the field of yield and stress.

The collaboration will focus on identifying genes that positively affect growth in algae, a target for Sapphire, which might increase crop yields as well.

Under the agreement, Monsanto and Sapphire will collaborate on algae-based research projects, and Monsanto will make an equity investment in Sapphire. Other terms of the agreement were not disclosed