StartupRealities

StartupRealities No 72 RootsIn RootsOut is a life sciences and genomics research company which is developing genetically modified (GM) plant roots that can sequentially absorb and release water. Essentially the goal of the company is to develop a genetic switch in plants that reverses the normal roots-to-leaves circulation of water and nutrients. When the switch is turned on, the plant channels water in the opposite direction: from the trunk/stalk down to the roots. In this state of "pumping out water", the water transpires through root pores into the soil. The minerals from the soil dissolve in the water released around the roots and the roots then re-absorb the mineral-enriched water back into the plant. CEO QUOTE "You know how spiders digest their prey: they expel digestive enzymes into the insect body and then suck up the liquefied digested tissues. RootsIn RootsOut aims to develop a similar type of interaction between plant roots and the soil, but with a much ...

StartupRealities No 66 RootMemory is a biochemicals company that develops species-specific bio-fertilisers that use genetically-modified bacteria to bind to the roots of the plants and deliver the nutrients contained in the fertiliser. The bacteria thus serve as an intermediary between the fertiliser and the plant. The company's research is centred on the common rhizobia bacteria , which are known to fix fertiliser in the roots of legume plants. RootMemory develops bacteria that are genetically modified to attach themselves to the roots of other key agricultural plants (such as wheat, rice, bananas). However, the genetically-modified bacteria are not required to fix (generate) nitrogen or other nutrients themselves; they only need to pass on the nutrients from the soil to the root of the given plant species, while not interacting with other species (weeds) at the same time. PRODUCT The company sells the (inorganic) fertilisers separately from the species-specific living bacter...