Yield10 Bioscience Begins 2021 Field Test and Seed Scale Up Program

WOBURN, Mass., July 13, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Yield10 Bioscience, Inc. (Nasdaq: YTEN), an agricultural bioscience company, today announced it has completed planting of its 2021 Field Test and Seed Scale Up program at all contracted sites in the United States, Canada, and Argentina.

Yield10’s 2021 Field Test program is designed to test several varieties of elite Camelina, as well as seed yield and oil content traits. In addition, Yield10 has contracted with a seed company for scale up of three Camelina varieties to enable larger scale plantings in 2022. With increasing focus on Camelina products, Yield10 is completing initial field testing of a promising CRISPR-edited trait which has shown up to a 4% increase in seed oil content plus a positive impact on seed yield in canola. Yield10 expects that harvest of seeds across the field tests will be completed in third quarter 2021, and that data will be received starting in fourth quarter 2021.

“Our 2021 field program is our most extensive program to date, involving 16 locations, and is expected to generate data to guide the advancement of our novel traits,” said Dr. Kristi Snell, Ph.D., Chief Science Officer of Yield10. “We are also conducting seed scale up activities with three Camelina lines intended to enable future planting at the 100-to-1000-acre scale, as well as for producing oil and meal for customer sampling. The objective for our field testing and seed scale up program is to build an industry leading elite Camelina germplasm, and to further differentiate our Camelina using proprietary traits. We believe these traits have the potential to enhance the value of the crop by increasing seed yield and oil content and by producing value-add products including omega-3 nutritional oil and PHA bioplastic.”  

Yield10 2021 Field Test and Seed Scale Up Program Summary:

• Elite Camelina Germplasm: Yield10 is evaluating over 20 base germplasm lines including wildtype, doubled haploid, herbicide tolerant and disease resistant varieties at more than 10 sites across the U.S., Canada, and Argentina. Yield10 is also conducting a multi-acre scale up of a doubled haploid Camelina line and a disease resistant Camelina line in the U.S. under a collaboration with a seed company.
• Camelina/CRISPR E3902: Yield10 is conducting a multi-acre scale up of CRISPR genome edited trait E3902 in the U.S., as E3902 has demonstrated consistent increases in oil content in the field over the previous two growing seasons. USDA-APHIS does not consider this line to be regulated pursuant to 7 CFR part 340.
• Camelina/C3014 and C3015 (PHA): Yield10 is scaling up its two best PHA Camelina lines at sites in the U.S. and Canada. Yield10 designed traits C3014 and C3015 to produce PHA bioplastic as a third seed product in Camelina. Results of field tests in 2020 achieved a proof-of-concept milestone for a plant-based route of production for PHA.
• Canola/CRISPR: Yield10 is evaluating canola lines with a CRISPR genome-edited trait which has shown an increase in oil content in canola. In recent greenhouse studies, this trait has resulted in a 4% increase in seed oil production plus increased seed yield. This trait is being tested in the U.S. with a seed company. USDA-APHIS does not consider this line to be regulated pursuant to 7 CFR part 340.
• Camelina/Novel Yield Traits: Yield10 will test additional novel performance traits generated using the Company’s GRAIN platform in the 2021 Field Test program at sites in the U.S. and Canada.

During these field tests, Yield10 is monitoring key agronomic and growth parameters of the plants throughout the growth period. Yield10 also plans to evaluate seed yield, oil content, PHA content, and/or other parameters of the traits as appropriate after seed harvest. The field tests are designed to generate data on the performance of the novel traits under field conditions, and to advance the development of the traits toward commercialization.

The seed scale up program is designed to generate field-grown seed for subsequent field studies as well as to build seed inventory to enable planting at increasing scale. In addition, seed from the program may be used to produce meal, oil, and PHA for customer sampling and other business development purposes.

About Yield10 Bioscience

Yield10 Bioscience, Inc. is an agricultural bioscience company that is using its differentiated trait gene discovery platform, the “Trait Factory”, to develop improved Camelina varieties for the production of proprietary seed products, and to discover high value genetic traits for the agriculture and food industries. Our goals are to efficiently establish a high value seed products business based on developing superior varieties of Camelina to produce feedstock oils, nutritional oils, and PHA bioplastics, and to license our yield traits to major seed companies for commercialization in major row crops, including corn, soybean, and canola. Yield10 is headquartered in Woburn, MA and has an Oilseeds Center of Excellence in Saskatoon, Canada.

For more information about the company, please visit www.yield10bio.com, or follow the Company on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

(YTEN-G)

Safe Harbor for Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements which are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. The forward-looking statements in this release do not constitute guarantees of future performance. Investors are cautioned that statements in this press release which are not strictly historical, including, without limitation, statements regarding the Company’s intentions with regard to plans to conduct field tests with Camelina and canola in 2021, the plans to conduct seed scale up with Camelina in 2021 and winter 2021-2022, the results and outcome of, and information gathered from, those tests, the ability to use the results of the tests in future studies or licensing activities, whether the Company’s traits will increase seed yield or boost oil content or PHA, whether the field tests will generate data on the performance of the novel traits under field conditions, whether the field tests will advance the development of the traits toward commercialization, whether the seed scale up program will generate seed for subsequent field studies or seed inventory to enable planting at increasing scale, whether seed from the program may be used to produce meal, oil, and PHA for customer sampling and other business development purposes, and expectations with regard to the timing of harvesting the plants and obtaining results of the field tests, constitute forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated, including weather and weather-related events that may impact the progress or results of the field trials and the risks and uncertainties detailed in Yield10 Bioscience’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Yield10 assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking information contained in this press release or with respect to the matters described herein.

Contacts:
Yield10 Bioscience:
Lynne H. Brum, (617) 682-4693, LBrum@yield10bio.com

Investor Relations:
Bret Shapiro, (561) 479-8566, brets@coreir.com
Managing Director, CORE IR

Media Inquiries:
Eric Fischgrund, eric@fischtankpr.com
FischTank PR