SAINT PAUL, Minn., Nov. 4, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Cellectis plant sciences, the plant genome engineering specialist and subsidiary of Cellectis (Alternext: ALCLS), announced today that it has signed a technology licensing agreement with Japan Tobacco Inc., a global supplier of tobacco, pharmaceuticals and food products, for access to its Agrobacterium transformation technology known as PureIntro®. The agreement provides Cellectis plant sciences with the ability to utilize Japan Tobacco's technology for the precise modification of the corn and rice genomes. Cellectis is a leader in meganuclease-based genome engineering. Its technology has many applications in plants, allowing for the insertion, deletion or modification of gene sequences to create plants expressing new traits with added value (for example: drought resistance, enhanced nutritional qualities, disease resistance).