Cytotrait, a biotechnology spinout from The University of Manchester, has closed a £3 million seed funding round to advance its Mutant Organelle Selection System (MOSS) – a platform the company believes can unlock high‑value crop traits at expression levels “significantly beyond” what is possible through conventional nuclear genome engineering.
The round was led by Northern Gritstone, with participation from the UK Innovation & Science Seed Fund (UKI2S), managed by Future Planet Capital, and the Northern Universities Ventures Fund, managed by Parkwalk in collaboration with Northern Gritstone.
The investment will allow Cytotrait to expand development programmes in major global crops including wheat, maize, potato and canola, following what the company describes as “strong early data” from its proprietary technology.
A new route to rapid homoplasmy and higher trait expression
Cytotrait positions MOSS as a fundamentally different approach to crop engineering. While nuclear genome editing has dominated the past two decades of crop trait innovation, the company argues that organelle engineering offers a route to far higher levels of trait expression; reduced phytotoxicity; simpler trait stacking and backcrossing; improved biosafety and containment; and, because organelle DNA is rarely transmitted by pollen, a potentially smoother regulatory pathway.
At the core of MOSS is its ability to rapidly achieve homoplasmy; the state in which every chloroplast or mitochondrion in a cell carries the edited genome. This uniformity has long been a bottleneck in organelle engineering.
Speaking to AgTechNavigator, Dr Junwei Ji, Cytotrait’s Co‑Founder & Executive Director, explained what makes the system distinct:
“Existing methods use selection markers, which can leave an undesirable footprint in the genome. Instead, our technology removes the unedited genome copies, allowing the edited copies to propagate. This leads to rapid homoplasmy and it works in any crop species.”
He said the company has already demonstrated the principle in two crops, generating the early data underpinning the new investment.
Unlocking food and nutritional traits by targeting organelles
Ji believes some food and nutritional traits are particularly well‑suited to organelle engineering due to the organelles’ naturally high protein‑synthesis capacity. “Protein and vitamin products could benefit significantly from organelle expression,” he said. “Before this investment round, Cytotrait had initiated the wheat pipeline with ARIA [the UK’s Advanced Research and Innovation Agency] funding support. Wheat will be one of our earliest organelle traits.”
The company sees additional long‑term opportunities in “carbon‑conscious” agriculture, including traits enabling improved carbon sequestration.
The seed round will support proof‑of‑concept development in experimental germplasm for multiple crop–trait combinations – a key milestone to attract partnerships with major seed companies.
Lower regulatory barriers than nuclear editing?
Cytotrait also argues that organelle gene editing may face fewer regulatory hurdles than nuclear modifications.
“Modified organelle genes have a much lower risk of spread into the environment as they are rarely transmitted by pollen,” Ji told AgTechNavigator. “This is a major advantage over nuclear gene editing, especially for herbicide‑resistance or pest‑resistance traits.”
The company plans to commercialise through partnerships with major seed developers and expects a mixture of co‑development and licensing models.
Why investors believe organelle engineering is ready now
When asked what convinced investors that organelle engineering is commercially viable, Ji pointed to two developments: strong technical validation and increasing market appetite.
“Our proof-of-concept data has shown a strong technical validation – achieving homoplasmy without using a selection marker gene. It is also clear that there is huge potential for organelle traits in crop breeding. Taken together, our investors believe that we are ready to develop commercial crop traits.”
Backers said the investment reflects both the technology’s potential and the quality of the founding team.
Duncan Johnson, CEO of Northern Gritstone, commented: “Cytotrait is a prime example of the world‑class innovation from the North of England’s universities. We look forward to positive results from this first tranche of development programmes.”
Dr Tim Brears, Cytotrait’s Executive Chair, described the technology as a paradigm shift for crop trait engineering: “MOSS is truly a breakthrough in crop technology, allowing us to precisely engineer characteristics that can enhance yield and resilience while driving a more sustainable future for modern agriculture.”
Hassan Mahmudul, Investment Manager at UKI2S, added: “This platform has the potential to unlock high‑value trait expression at levels significantly beyond what is achievable through conventional nuclear genome engineering.”
Positioning organelle engineering as the next big disruption
With global focus intensifying on food security, climate‑resilient crops, and sustainable input use, Cytotrait believes organelle engineering will emerge as a complementary, and in some cases superior, alternative to nuclear genome editing.
The next two years of proof‑of‑concept work will determine how quickly MOSS transitions into commercial breeding pipelines. But with investors now backing the technology, Cytotrait is positioning itself as one of the first companies seeking to industrialise organelle‑based trait development at scale.
