With debate continuing to rage about the efficacy and safety of transgenic Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs), bio-tech start-up Cibus LLC has developed an all-natural, environmentally safe “smart breeding tool.” Enabling farmers to safely grow plants with desired trait effects, Cibus’ Rapid Trait Development System™ (RTDS) has been proven by years of rigorous research and is poised to transform the multibillion-dollar industrial, crop protection and food industry markets.

RTDS’ first market entry is slated for 2009, when Cibus will introduce an herbicide-tolerant canola seed followed by herbicide-tolerant rice scheduled to launch in 2010. Fighting weeds is the number one priority for all farmers, and until now, they have had to choose between older, more expensive harsh chemicals or a newer, lower cost safer generation of chemicals that can only be utilized with genetically-modified seeds to achieve that end. RTDS changes all that.

RTDS is fundamentally different than previous trait technologies because it uses plants’ own natural DNA-repair machinery to direct subtle but important changes in the plants’ DNA sequence. Unlike transgenic engineering, which takes exotic genetic material from one species and inserts it into another, RTDS derives its genetic traits from the very same plant species being altered. In other words, no foreign DNA is present, leading to none of the health and environmental risks associated with genetic engineering.

“RTDS crops are all-natural, which is why regulatory agencies actually classify them in the same category as traditionally bred plants,” said Cibus President Keith Walker. “Because they are not classified as transgenic GMOs, RTDS crops will allow farmers unfettered access to Europe and other countries that have, rightly or wrongly, railed against the introduction of ‘Frankenfoods’ into their markets.”

For centuries, farmers have manipulated crop and animal traits naturally (cross breeding of dogs for example), but the genetic changes were random and took years. Thanks in part to recent advancements in genome mapping, RTDS is vastly more precise and faster than traditional hit-and-miss plant breeding or genetic engineering. The effectiveness of RTDS has been tested and verified by prestigious, independent scientific think tanks and research institutes including the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Germany and The Boyce Thompson Research Institute at Cornell University.

“RTDS manipulation is so precise, that it is similar to altering a letter in a single word contained within a large book,” added Walker. “But the end result is a vastly improved and environmentally-safe plant seed.”

Herbicide tolerance is the initial offering for Cibus’ business, with the company eventually planning to follow its Canola seed application with RTDS-bred corn, wheat, rice and sorghum crops. The company was built around the potential of RTDS, which is protected by more than 15 US patents and their equivalent foreign applications.

Commenting on today’s announcement, Stephen Evans-Freke, Chairman of Cibus, said: “Cibus’ RTDS plant breeding technology constitutes a genuine breakthrough for both agriculture and public policy. The heat of the GM debate has threatened to derail desperately needed advances in agriculture. Cibus has established that GM-like traits can be achieved in crops without introducing foreign genetic material, and we look forward to working with commercial partners in applying the RDTS technology to a growing list of major crops in the coming years.”

About Cibus’ RTDS technology

RTDS technology produces changes within a plant species that could only occur in nature, but does so in a directed way. Thanks in part to recent developments in genome mapping, RTDS is more precise by an order of magnitude and much faster than traditional hit-and-miss plant breeding and transgenic breeding technology, both of which can take years to perfect a trait.

The RTDS process, known as directed mutagenesis, works through the cell’s natural process of gene repair.  Every time a cell copies DNA, it makes “scrivener” errors or spelling mistakes.  These variations happen all the time, which is how natural variation occurs.  Cibus’ technology harnesses the cell’s own natural DNA repair machinery to correct such spelling mistakes, thus directing DNA repair enzymes to correct and repair the targeted gene in a specific way in order to produce a desired trait.  The process, in its precision, is similar to altering a letter in a single word contained within a large book. Nothing in the genome other than the changes directed by the process is altered by this approach.

Cibus LLC is a privately held San Diego-based trait development company.  Cibus produces environmentally friendly crop traits for the agricultural community that do not carry the market-resistance or regulatory burden of attributes engineered through the introduction of foreign genetic material.  The Company accomplishes this through the application of a new and proprietary technology called the Rapid Trait Development System (RTDS™), which has proven itself in the laboratory with several different crops, and in initial field trials of Cibus’ first commercial crop.