Cibus Slides on Alliance with John Innes Centre

Cibus, Inc. (NASDAQ: CBUS) shares moved downward Thursday. The San Diego-based company, a leading agricultural technology concern that develops and licenses plant traits to seed companies for royalties, today confirmed its continuing collaboration with the John Innes Centre (JIC). Cibus applauds the JIC breakthrough discovery, published earlier this year in the journal Nature, of a biological mechanism that makes plant roots more welcoming to beneficial soil microbes. Cibus and JIC have been collaborating to translate JIC’s discovery into a nutrient use efficiency (NUE) trait for a number of crops, including canola/oilseed rape. If successfully developed, the NUE trait would lead to improved nutrient uptake thereby reducing the use of nitrate and phosphate fertilizers without compromising yields.Said Dr. Myriam Charpentier, JIC scientist and lead author of the Nature paper. “Our findings hold great potential for advancing sustainable agriculture. It is unexpected and exciting that we have discovered a mechanism that enhances plant-microbe interactions that can boost nutrient uptake in farming conditions. We have been very pleased to work with Cibus towards the development of a trait offering more sustainable production of economically important crops alongside reduced use of inorganic fertilizers.”Shares in CBUS began Thursday lower by four cents, or 2.5%, to $1.54.