New Zealand startup “BioLumic” is ready to bring its light-treated seeds to market. The company earlier this month launched its first commercial “Trait Activation System” (aka xTrait), at Gro Alliance’s seed production facility in Cuba City, Wisconsin.
The BioLumic xTrait platform uses UV light to regulate genetic expression. That’s right, they just use light – no genetic modification necessary. Unlike traditional GM and gene-editing approaches, BioLumic says its platform bypasses long development and regulatory timelines and high costs, cutting trait commercialization time from 10+ years to just 3 years while reducing costs by up to 90%.
Seed companies can license BioLumic Genetic Expression Traits that are matched to their genetics and integrated into parent lines. Gro Alliance, BioLumic’s first commercial partner, will execute the trait activation process.
BioLumic touts a range of validated, light-activated traits across a diverse portfolio of partner genetics in over 6,000 plots. The company says its technology consistently demonstrates a more than +20% average yield gain in multiple untreated hybrid lines; +6.1 bushels per acre yield increase in more than a dozen activated inbreds; and increased establishment traits such as germination, seedling vigor, and uniformity.
In an interview with Brownfield Ag, CEO Steven Sibulkin says the ability to up-regulate or down-regulate genetic expression through a one-time application of ultraviolet light on seeds is unique. “The traits that we’ve embedding into the seed are important. Yield and establishment, and compositional traits, and doing so in a way that doesn’t change the underlying genetics of the plant means we can bring this innovation faster, there’s less regulatory resistance, there’s less disruption for the farmer.”
While corn represents the first commercial launch, the xTrait Platform is already expanding into rice, ryegrass, and soybeans through funded partnerships. Beyond these crops, over 10 new traits are in the discovery phase. Learn more at BioLumic’s website HERE.
