Cibus achieves positive initial field trial results for stacked gene edited herbicide tolerant traits in rice

Cibus, Inc. (Nasdaq: CBUS), a leading agricultural technology company that develops and licenses plant traits to seed companies for royalties, announced that it has positive initial field trial results of a novel weed management solution for rice farmers. Initial results have shown that using two herbicides provided an excellent weed management system in rice. If ultimately successful, stacking gene edited herbicide tolerant (HT) traits in a rice variety would enable the use of two herbicides with difference modes of action to control weeds. Rice containing stacked gene edited herbicide tolerant traits would allow farmers ultimately to use a comprehensive weed management solution. This stacked trait product would give farmers an excellent solution to manage weeds that impact yield and quality and would be applicable to many rice markets globally, providing a broader weed control solution to further reduce the risk of resistant weeds that often occur over time when using one mode of action herbicide.

Cibus believes stacked traits are a key element of modernizing crop breeding. Gene editing provides the ability to develop complex traits more efficiently and to address major farming yield constraints such as weeds, disease and inefficient fertilizer use. Cibus is seeking to address each of these problems in its trait development pipeline.

Importantly, Cibus is a leader in the development of gene edited traits in plants like herbicide tolerance in Rice. The Company’s plant trait intellectual property is developed using its Rapid Trait Development System (RTDS^®) including Gene Repair Oligonucleotides (GRON) and molecular scissors including Transcription activator-like effector nucleases (TALENs).

Jim Radtke, PhD, Senior Vice President of Product Development at Cibus, commented, ″The stacking of Cibus’ two gene edited herbicide tolerance traits in rice is representative of our strategy, goal and ability to provide farmers more options in managing weeds. We are encouraged to see initial trial results of our stacked gene edited Rice HT traits.″

Norm Sissons, Senior Vice President Seeds and Traits at Cibus, added, ″Cibus continues to provide crop productivity solutions for farmers that focus on both profitability and sustainability. In many parts of the world weed management is often manual labor intensive or utilizes herbicides that are less effective in controlling weeds that compete to reduce rice crop yields. Cibus is committed to bring to market multiple weed management solutions for Rice farmers and these initial results are very encouraging.″