The Agracetus Campus of
Monsanto Company
The Monsanto Company () was an American agrochemical and agricultural biotechnology corporation founded in 1901 and headquartered in Creve Coeur, Missouri. Monsanto's best known product is Roundup (herbicide), Roundup, a glyphosate-based herbic ...
is a
soybean transformation laboratory. It has over 21,700
employee
Employment is a relationship between two parties regulating the provision of paid labour services. Usually based on a contract, one party, the employer, which might be a corporation, a not-for-profit organization, a co-operative, or any other ...
s worldwide, and an annual
revenue of US$11.365 billion reported for 2008.
The first successful
genetically engineered crop ever produced for the commercial market was the ''
Roundup Ready soybean
A genetically modified soybean is a soybean (''Glycine max'') that has had DNA introduced into it using genetic engineering techniques. In 1996, the first genetically modified soybean was introduced to the U.S. by Monsanto. In 2014, 90.7 millio ...
'', produced at Agracetus in 1991, and was one of fourteen successful transformation events. Scientists there used
gold bead gene transfer technology coupled with the
β-Glucuronidase reporter gene to produce the plant. The actual gun that shot the gold beads and produced the genetic modifications is now owned by the
Smithsonian museum in
Washington, DC.
Every ''Roundup Ready soybean'' in the world has a relative which was genetically transformed at Agracetus. 80% of the world's soybeans are ''Roundup Ready''.
Agracetus was founded in 1981 as
Cetus Corporation. Acquired by Monsanto in 1996, the research and development facility is located 8 miles (13 km) west of Madison in the city of
Middleton, Wisconsin, on . The site has of research space, of greenhouse space, about 75 employees, and ten laboratories. Output of genetically modified soy plants is many thousands of transformation events per year.
Genetically modified cotton and genetically modified rice is also an important effort at Agracetus.
References
{{Monsanto
Agronomy
Genetic engineering and agriculture
Monsanto