Next-generation breeding for better food
Changing Needs
Imagine an adaptable and resilient food system, providing universal access to food that is diverse, delicious, and sustains the body, soul and planet.
Introducing On-Demand Breeding
With a new paradigm for breeding, we’ve developed methods to create custom crop varieties ten times faster than current methods with no change to the plant’s genome.
It takes 7 – 10 years to create a new plant variety using traditional breeding methods. With on-demand breeding, crop attributes can be improved in a fraction of the time by tuning expression of a plant’s natural traits up or down.
-
Speed
10x faster than gene editing
-
Natural
No DNA sequence changes or GMOs
-
Specificity
Tunes genes with precision
Turning the dial on gene expression
Creating traits on demand
We’re breeding new plant varieties that are better for everyone — from heirloom tomatoes with a longer shelf life to soy that tastes better and has more protein. All of this is possible thanks to a new understanding of how traits can be inherited called epigenetics.
On-demand breeding fine tunes expression of plant genes, leading to improvements in flavor, nutritional content, plant architecture, disease resistance and more. It does this by working in conjunction with plant proteins to guide the methylation complexes to reach targeted genes. This allows expression levels to be adapted, leading to improved plant attributes. The result: traits expressed on-demand, without any changes to the genome.
Our Process
First, we identify the genome location where a specific trait is expressed. Then, we guide the plant’s natural system to turn the expression level up or down — creating a bespoke seed with specific heritable traits.
All the benefits of traditional breeding, in a fraction of the time.
| Sound’s On-Demand Breeding | 15 days |
| Gene Editing | 150 days |
| Traditional Breeding | 750 days |
*Time is representative of concept to plantlet with new trait.