BioWorld International Correspondent

PARIS - Cellectis SA signed a licensing agreement with Diversa Corp., granting the latter a nonexclusive license for research purposes only to Cellectis' patented meganuclease I-Sce1 technology.

Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed, but the deal provides for Cellectis to receive annual research funding and includes an option for Diversa, of San Diego, to obtain a commercial license at a later stage. Cellectis' business development manager, Bruno Brisson, told BioWorld International that this was a "pre-negotiated option" and that there was no time limit for it to be exercised.

Diversa, a leader in directed evolution and protein engineering, has evaluated the French company's I-Sce1 meganuclease technology, which it plans to apply to different strains of microorganisms with the aim of improving the productivity of host organisms and enhancing the functionality of the microorganisms obtained. I-Sce1 is a rare, natural endonuclease used to induce a site-directed double-strand break in the genome of a host organism.

Paris-based Cellectis, a spin-off from the Institut Pasteur, is developing custom-made meganucleases that can target a unique DNA break in vivo, and thus constitute an enabling technology for commercial applications in human therapeutics, drug discovery, agriculture and industrial biotechnology. Its technology platform is based on the application of the Meganuclease Recombination System to in vivo genome engineering.

Last November it signed a license agreement with the Lithuanian company Fermentas International Inc., granting the latter a nonexclusive worldwide license for the manufacture and commercialization of its I-Sce1 endonuclease.