About
genXtraits, inc. was formed in August 2022 with the mission to deliver new crop varieties that are both healthier and which can withstand a changing climate.
Global forces have created an urgent and sustained need for new varieties of plants. To address climate change and reduce fossil fuel dependency, there are plans to expand the planting of so called energy crops onto millions of new acres, with the aim of sequestering carbon and providing a carbon-neutral source of energy, chemistry, and construction materials. Additionally, the world’s established food crops are under unprecedented pressure, with drier hotter conditions negatively impacting yield and quality. Finally, consumers demand a healthier more nutritious diet and are seeking locally grown food, that is often produced in non-traditional urban settings such as repurposed buildings.
To meet these demands requires the rapid development of new crop varieties which can withstand pests and environmental stress and new growth conditions, as well as strains which are of greater nutritional value. This cannot be achieved by traditional breeding, which often requires many years of crossing and selection to establish new varieties. To succeed we will need to deploy modern DNA-based technologies to produce new crop varieties with the desired characteristics.
genXtraits has developed a portfolio of intellectual property anchored around the key regulator genes in plant genomes that control important traits including nutrient content, stress tolerance, and yield potential. At its foundation is a proprietary algorithm, which enables the computational identification of small sections of DNA that act as "dimmer switches" which dampen the activity of genes that control plants’ natural defenses against pests and stresses such as heat and drought. By using directed molecular genetic approaches, genXtraits is reducing the activity of these dimmer switches to boost the output of (a) protective genes that enable crops to thrive in challenging environments and (b) genes that drive the accumulation of healthy nutrients, vitamins and proteins.
The leadership team of genXtraits is uniquely positioned to deliver on the above mission. Collectively, these individuals have decades of industry experience and deep technical expertise in computational biology and functional plant genomics. The founders and advisors of the company have previously worked with leading firms that pioneered functional genomics in crops, including Mendel Biotechnology Inc., Monsanto Company and Bayer CropScience.
