Key Takeaways
- Seed Funding Success: Cytotrait has closed a $4.03 million (£3M) investment round led by Northern Gritstone to develop novel agricultural traits.
- Proprietary MOSS Platform: The funding will advance the Mutant Organelle Selection System (MOSS), which engineers genes directly into chloroplasts and mitochondria.
- Targeting Major Crops: New research programmes will focus on enhancing yield, resilience, and carbon sequestration in wheat, maize, potato, and canola.
- Strategic Partnerships: The University of Manchester spinout is supported by UKI2S, Northern Universities Ventures Fund, and a previous $668,000 (£498k) grant from ARIA.
Cytotrait Accelerates Biotechnology Development
Cytotrait, a biotechnology spinout from The University of Manchester, has announced the successful closure of a $4.03 million (£3M) seed funding round. The investment was led by Northern Gritstone, with participation from the UK Innovation & Science Seed Fund (UKI2S) and the Northern Universities Ventures Fund. This capital injection is designated to scale the company’s proprietary Mutant Organelle Selection System (MOSS) technology.
The investment follows a period of significant momentum for the company, including a $668,000 (£498k) award from the Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA). Cytotrait will use the new funds to initiate development programmes exploring enhanced traits in major crop species across European and North American markets.
Technical Advantages of the Cytotrait MOSS System
The MOSS technology distinguishes itself from traditional nuclear genome engineering by targeting the chloroplasts and mitochondria of a plant. This method achieves “homoplasmy” rapidly, ensuring that genetic edits are uniform across every organelle within a cell.
By utilizing this approach, Cytotrait can achieve localized, high-level gene expression while reducing transgene phytotoxicity. The system also offers practical benefits for commercial agriculture, including easier trait stacking, efficient genetic containment, and a more streamlined regulatory pathway compared to conventional methods.
Future Applications in Global Food Security
The upcoming research programmes will utilize MOSS to address global food security and sustainability. Specifically, the company is targeting enhancements in yield and resilience for wheat, maize, potato, and canola. Beyond productivity, the technology aims to drive sustainable practices by improving carbon sequestration capabilities within these crops.
“Food security and sustainability are two of our most pressing global challenges,” said Dr. Junwei Ji, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Cytotrait. “We developed MOSS with those challenges in mind – a unique crop engineering solution capable of streamlining regulatory pathways and generating crops with new, enhanced, and more carbon-conscious traits.”
Support for the Cytotrait Innovation Ecosystem
As a graduate of the NG Studios venture-building program, Cytotrait represents the growing deep-tech corridor in the North of England. The company was spun out with the assistance of the University of Manchester Innovation Factory to commercialize academic research into scalable agricultural solutions.
“MOSS is truly a breakthrough in the field of crop technology, allowing us to precisely engineer characteristics that can not only enhance yield and resilience, but also help to drive a more sustainable future for modern agriculture,” stated Dr. Tim Brears, Executive Chair of Cytotrait.
Investors have highlighted the platform's ability to outperform conventional methods. Hassan Mahmudul, Investment Manager at UKI2S, noted that the technology “has the potential to unlock high-value trait expression at levels significantly beyond what is achievable through conventional nuclear genome engineering.”
