About the Authors

Hidetoshi Goto

hidetoshi.goto@monsanto.com

Affiliation Monsanto Japan Limited, 2-5-18, Kyobashi, Chuo-ku, Tokyo, 104–0031, Japan

Hiroshi Shimada

Affiliation Monsanto Japan Limited, Kawachi Research Farm, 4475–2, Manaita Aza Dotemukai, Kawachi-machi, Inashiki-gun, Ibaraki, 300–1331, Japan

Michael J. Horak

Affiliation Monsanto Company, 800 N Lindbergh Blvd., St. Louis, MO, 63167, United States of America

Aqeel Ahmad

Affiliation Monsanto Company, 800 N Lindbergh Blvd., St. Louis, MO, 63167, United States of America

Baltazar M. Baltazar

Affiliation Monsanto Company, 800 N Lindbergh Blvd., St. Louis, MO, 63167, United States of America

Tim Perez

Affiliation Monsanto Company, 800 N Lindbergh Blvd., St. Louis, MO, 63167, United States of America

Marc A. McPherson

Affiliation Monsanto Company, 800 N Lindbergh Blvd., St. Louis, MO, 63167, United States of America

Duška Stojšin

Affiliation Monsanto Company, 800 N Lindbergh Blvd., St. Louis, MO, 63167, United States of America

Ayako Shimono

Affiliation Faculty of Science, Toho University, 2-2-1 Miyata, Funabashi, Chiba, 274–8510, Japan

Ryo Ohsawa

Affiliation Laboratory of Plant Breeding, Graduate School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Tsukuba, 1-1-1 Tennoudai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305–8572, Japan

Competing Interests

Authors HG and HS are employees of Monsanto Japan Limited, and MH, AA, BB, TP, MP and DS are employees of Monsanto Company. This does not alter the authors’ adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: HG MH AA BB. Performed the experiments: HG HS MH AA BB. Analyzed the data: TP. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: HS AA BB. Wrote the paper: HG MH AA BB TP MM DS AS RO.