Cibus, Inc. (NASDAQ: CBUS), a leading agricultural technology
company that develops and licenses plant traits to seed companies,
today announced that its paper on Industrializing Gene Editing in
Brassica napus was published in the International Journal of Plant
Biology. (
Link Article:
https://www.mdpi.com/2037-0164/14/4/77)
“The ability to scale breeding in a precise and repeatable
process is the central breakthrough of our high-speed breeding
process, which we refer to as the Trait Machine™ System. Our
scale breakthroughs in breeding in Brassica napus (canola or winter
oilseed rape) in our San Diego trait production facility is driving
the speed and number of edited seed transfers of our pod shatter
reduction trait to our major seed company customers,” stated Andrew
Walker, Vice President of Trait Production at Cibus. “While we
focus on our initial three-crop, five-trait model, our continued
breakthroughs developing additional single cell regeneration
systems in multiple crops is expanding our ability to bring new
scaled breeding processes and new trait opportunities to more crops
in the future, especially the major oil and cereal crops.”
Peter Beetham, President and COO of Cibus, added, “Increased
throughput of our Trait Machine allows Cibus to deliver multiple
elite genetic lines to seed company customers that integrate into
their advanced commercial breeding programs. This high-speed
approach reduces timelines to develop new traits from as much as 16
years to approximately three to five years, which has been
validated by collaboration agreements with partners, such as
Bayer.”
Article AbstractIn plants, an
increasing number of traits and new characteristics are being
developed using gene editing. Simple traits represented by a single
gene can be managed through backcross breeding, but this is
typically not the case for more complex traits which may result
from the function of a large number of genes. Here, we demonstrate
two case studies of improving oleic oil content and developing pod
shatter reduction in Brassica napus by using gene editing
tools on an industrial scale. There are
four BnaFAD2 genes involved in oleic oil content and
eight BnaSHP genes involved in pod shatter tolerance. In
order to develop these two traits, we delivered nuclease
ribonucleoproteins with Gene Repair Oligonucleotides (GRONs) into
protoplasts, with subsequent regeneration into plants on an
industrial scale, which encompassed robust tissue culture
protocols, efficient gene editing, robotics sampling, and molecular
screening, vigorous plant regeneration, growth, and phenotyping. We
can produce precise loss-of-function-edited plants with two
improved agronomically important complex traits, high oleic oil or
pod shatter reduction, in elite canola varieties within 1–3 years,
depending on the trait complexity. In the edited plants carrying
loss of function of four BnaFAD2 genes, the seed fatty
acid oleic acid content reached 89% compared to 61% in the
non-edited wildtype control. The plants carrying eight
edited BnaSHP genes achieved 51% pod shatter reduction in
multiple year field testing in the target environment compared to
the wildtype control.
About the Cibus
RTDS®-based High Throughput Breeding
SystemA key element of Cibus’ technology breakthrough is
its high throughput breeding process (referred to as the Trait
Machine™ System). The Trait Machine process is a crop specific
application of Cibus’ patented Rapid Trait Development System™
(RTDS). The proprietary technologies in
RTDS integrate crop specific cell biology
platforms with a series of gene editing technologies to enable a
system of end-to-end crop specific precision breeding. It is the
core technology platform for Cibus’ Trait Machine: the first
standardized end-to-end semi-automated crop specific gene editing
system that directly edits a seed company’s elite germplasm. Each
Trait Machine process requires a crop specific cell biology
platform that enables Cibus to edit a single cell from a customers’
elite germplasm and grow that edited cell into a plant with the
Cibus edits. Cibus has Trait Machine platforms developed for canola
and rice and has already begun transferring back to customers their
elite germplasm with Cibus edits.
The traits from Cibus’ RTDS-based high
throughput breeding system are indistinguishable from traits
developed using conventional breeding or from nature. Under the
European Commission’s current proposal, if adopted, we expect
that products from Cibus’ RTDS gene editing
platform such as its pod shatter trait and Sclerotinia resistance
traits for canola and winter oilseed rape will be considered
‘conventional-like'.
Cibus believes that RTDS and the Trait Machine
process represent the technological breakthrough in plant breeding
that is the ultimate promise of plant gene editing: high throughput
gene editing systems operating as an extension of seed company
breeding programs.
About CibusCibus is a leader in gene edited
productivity traits that address critical productivity and
sustainability challenges for farmers such as diseases and pests
which the United Nations estimates cost the global economy
approximately $300 billion annually. Cibus is not a seed company.
It is a technology company that uses gene editing to develop and
license traits to seed companies in exchange for royalties on seed
sales. Cibus’ focus is productivity traits for the major global
crops such as canola, rice, soybean, and wheat. Cibus is the
technology leader in high throughput gene editing technology that
enables Cibus to develop and commercialize plant traits at a
fraction of the time and cost of conventional breeding. Using its
Trait Machine process, Cibus has developed a pipeline of five
productivity traits including important traits for pod shatter
reduction, Sclerotinia resistance and weed management. Three crops:
canola, rice, and soybean; with Cibus’ five traits: pod shatter
reduction, herbicide tolerance (HT)1, HT2, HT3, and Sclerotinia
resistance make up the core of Cibus’ three-crop, five-trait model,
which is the central focus of its business. Its initial traits for
pod shatter reduction and weed management are developed in
collaboration with leading seed companies. Its other pipeline
traits including Sclerotinia resistance are in advanced greenhouse
and field trial stages.
Forward-Looking StatementsThis press release
contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of
applicable securities laws, including The Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements, other than
statements of present or historical fact included herein, including
statements regarding Cibus’ strategy, future operations, prospects
and plans, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking
statements may be identified by words such as “anticipate,”
“believe,” “intend”, “expect,” “plan,” “scheduled,” “could,”
“would” and “will,” or the negative of these and similar
expressions.
These forward-looking statements are based on the current
expectations and assumptions of Cibus’ management about future
events, which are based on currently available information. These
forward-looking statements are subject to numerous risks and
uncertainties, many of which are difficult to predict and beyond
the control of Cibus. Cibus’ actual results, level of activity,
performance, or achievements could be materially different than
those expressed, implied, or anticipated by forward-looking
statements due to a variety of factors, including, but not limited
to: risks associated with the possible failure to realize certain
anticipated benefits of the merger between Cibus Global, LLC and
Calyxt, Inc. (Merger Transactions); the effect of the completion of
the Merger Transactions on Cibus’ business relationships, operating
results, and business generally; the outcome of any litigation
related to the Merger Transactions; changes in expected or existing
competition; challenges to Cibus’ intellectual property protection
and unexpected costs associated with defending intellectual
property rights; increased or unanticipated time and resources
required for Cibus’ platform or trait product development efforts;
Cibus’ reliance on third parties in connection with its development
activities; challenges associated with Cibus’ ability to
effectively license its productivity traits and sustainable
ingredient products; the risk that farmers do not recognize the
value in germplasm containing Cibus’ traits or that farmers and
processors fail to work effectively with crops containing Cibus’
traits; challenges that arise in respect of Cibus’ production of
high-quality plants and seeds cost effectively on a large scale;
Cibus’ need for additional funding to finance its activities and
challenges in obtaining additional capital on acceptable terms, or
at all; Cibus’ dependence on distributions from Cibus Global, LLC
to pay taxes and cover its corporate and overhead expenses;
regulatory developments that disfavor or impose significant burdens
on gene-editing processes or products; Cibus’ ability to achieve
commercial success; commodity prices and other market risks facing
the agricultural sector; technological developments that could
render Cibus’ technologies obsolete; changes in macroeconomic and
market conditions, including inflation, supply chain constraints,
and rising interest rates; dislocations in the capital markets and
challenges in accessing liquidity and the impact of such liquidity
challenges on Cibus’ ability to execute on its business plan; and
other important factors discussed in “Risk Factors of Cibus, Inc.”
filed as Exhibit 99.3 with Cibus’ Current Report on Form 8-K, which
was filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”)
on June 1, 2023, and any additional “Risk Factors” identified in
Cibus’ subsequent reports on Forms 10-Q and 8-K filed with the SEC.
Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties occur, or should
underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results and plans
could differ materially from those expressed in any forward-looking
statements.
In addition, the forward-looking statements included in this
press release represent Cibus’ views as of the date hereof. Cibus
specifically disclaims any obligation to update such
forward-looking statements in the future, except as required under
applicable law. These forward-looking statements should not be
relied upon as representing Cibus’ views as of any date subsequent
to the date hereof.
Cibus Contacts:
Investor RelationsKaren Troeber
ktroeber@cibus.com 858-450-2636
Media RelationsColin Sanford
colin@bioscribe.com 203-918-4347
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