Next-generation breeding for better food
Changing Needs
Our current food system isn’t keeping pace with the modern world. It needs to be more adaptable and resilient in order to support evolving environmental and consumer demands.
Introducing On-Demand Breeding
With a new paradigm for breeding, we help growers and food companies move faster by turning expression of a plant’s natural traits up or down.
Crops developed with breeding or gene editing take 5 – 7 years to reach the market, which is too slow to address the speed of our changing world. Now there’s a solution.
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Speed
10x faster than gene editing
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Natural
No DNA sequence changes or GMOs
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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 protein 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.
This rapidly developing field of study is helping us discover how plant traits can be inherited without changing the DNA. By tuning the gene expression, we can improve the appearance, taste, nutritional content, and agronomic characteristics of a plant.
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 a specific heritable trait or 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.