Icoria Receives Seventh U.S. Patent on Novel Fungicide Target

Integrated systems biology company Icoria has been granted a U.S. patent titled, "Methods for the Identification of Inhibitors of Asparagine Synthase as Antibiotics," covering the discovery of a novel gene target for antibiotic development in a biochemical pathway by which fungi produce asparagine, a nutrient necessary for fungal growth.

The patent also covers methods enabling the discovery of chemicals that inhibit protein target activities within this critical pathway. These methods potentially increase the probability that fungicides could be found that affect this pathway.