The Rapid Trait Development System In Brief

The Rapid Trait Development System™ (RTDS) is a new gene repair technology being deployed to develop new and useful traits in crops. With the continuing concerns from environmental groups and consumers about the inclusion of foreign genetic material in transgenic crops, a new technology is needed that is more precise than random mutagensis but does not require the incorporation of foreign DNA. Several techniques are currently being evaluated. However most of these techniques are not site specific and require extensive screening to deliver the desired phenotype. One non-transgenic technique that is site specific and very precise is RTDS, which is under development at Cibus.

RTDS is based on altering a targeted gene by utilizing the cell’s own gene repair system to specifically modify the gene sequence in situ and not insert foreign DNA and gene expression control sequences. This procedure effects a precise change in the genetic sequence while the rest of the genome is left unaltered. In contrast to conventional transgenic GMOs, there is no integration of foreign genetic material, nor is any foreign genetic material left in the plant. The changes in the genetic sequence introduced by RTDS are targeted and precise. Finally, since affected genes remain in their native location, no random, uncontrolled or adverse pattern of expression occurs.

The RTDS that effects this change is a chemically synthesized oligonucleotide which may be composed of both DNA and modified RNA bases as well as other chemical moieties, and is designed to hybridize at the targeted gene location to create a mismatched base-pair(s). This mismatched base-pair acts as a signal to attract the cell’s own natural gene repair system to that site and correct (replace, insert or delete) the designated nucleotide(s) within the gene. Once the correction process is complete the RTDS molecule is degraded and the now-modified or repaired gene is expressed under that gene’s normal endogenous control mechanisms.

Thus, RTDS is a site-specific gene modification system that is effective at making precise changes in a gene sequence without the incorporation of foreign genes or control sequences. It is the Company’s view that RTDS will find important applications in agriculture and other areas of opportunity where precise, fine structure changes in genes can be applied to create or improve a new product.