Many microbes are naturally resistant to a wide spectrum of chemicals, including herbicides. Athenix' research platform utilizes the natural, and virtually untapped, diversity of microbes to discover genes encoding novel proteins that can inactivate specific herbicides by a variety of biological mechanisms. Once in hand, scientists at Athenix can then design, engineer and optimize activity of these proteins so they properly function inside plants.

To date, Athenix scientists have isolated over 30 novel herbicide-tolerance genes that cover three classes of herbicides. We have produced herbicide-tolerant crop plants while continuing to isolate new genes and evaluate their effectiveness in plants.

Athenix has discovered a new class of genes that provide high levels of tolerance to glyphosate, a commonly used agricultural herbicide. Crops tolerant to this herbicide have been rapidly adopted by growers worldwide and demand continues to grow.