Sharsheret, Israel
October 22, 2013

Morflora’s revolutionary TraitUP™ technology is recognized in the industry as a promising way to non-transgenically deliver traits to seeds for protection and enhancement of crops. TraitUP™ is a generic non-transgenic and non heritable platform that enables the delivery of DNA into a wide variety of seeds in a fast and reliable manner, to protect them for a single generation from a wide range of diseases, and introduce new desired traits for plant and crop enhancement. Morflora successfully demonstrated the ability of the platform to provide crop protection solutions against fungal diseases, as well as to induce acceleration in plants' biomass growth. The TraitUP™ delivered traits cannot be genetically transmitted to adjacent crops, weeds or wild species, hence the platform is safe and environmentally friendly. Based on the TraitUP™ platform achievements to date, Morflora’s vision is to assist in increasing and securing global agricultural production, in a sustainable manner, which will lead to a remarkable reduction in the use of chemical controls.

According to a market research report published by MarketsandMarkets, "Seed Treatment Market Trends and Global Forecasts (2011-2016)", the global seed treatment market is the fastest growing segment of the crop protection market. The research describes TraitUP™ as a technology which “brings the best of two world’s i.e., the ability to make plants express desired traits and alleviate the problems associated with transgenic heritance among off springs as in conventional breeding practices.“

Referring to the cost effective impact TraitUP™ brings to the market, the research notes that “the cost of developing a new trait in a seed using Morflora’s TraitUP™ would be 110th of using any other technique. It is a tremendous mark down and provides a strong incentive for trait development companies to explore TraitUP™. Companies can now develop various new traits with less research and development budget.”

An additional firm, Lux research, has named Morflora as one of top ten innovators it has profiled in Q2 of 2013, saying that “By achieving transgenic-level disease resistance without any genetic modification Morflora sidesteps contentious issues; its current pilot program has Morflora poised to be a part of most major seed treatment products within three to five years.”

“Last year brought tremendous global recognition for Morflora as a leading Ag-Biotech innovator”, says CEO Dotan Peleg. “We clearly envision a new market opening up in few years' time, in which numerous plant protection and crop enhancement products enabled by TraitUP™ bring beneficial traits to global and local seeds varieties via non-transgenic, transient, non-heritable seed treatment.

By now, some of world's leading players in genetics, seed and seed treatment markets have subscribed to our vision, and are working closely with us in researching the platform's performance to make this vision a commercial reality, exploiting the huge potential the technology brings to their business and to their customers.”

"Regarding innovation, I would like to congratulate Prof. Ilan Sela from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem on receiving the Kaye innovation award, and to thank Prof. Sela, Prof. Haim Rabinowitch and Prof. Yaacov Katan for laying very solid scientific foundation for the platform.” Peleg concluded.

Morflora representatives will attend the AGROW awards ceremony on October 28 in Amsterdam, and Crop World Global 2013, October 29-30 at the RAI, Amsterdam

Morflora develops generic and non-transgenic trait delivery solutions into plants, to protect them from a wide variety of diseases, as well as introduce new desired traits for plant enhancement. The company targets the seed and plant treatment markets, offering technology and solutions to increase global crop yield and reduce dependency on chemical treatments and lengthy breeding processes.
Established in 2008, Morflora’s mission is to become a leading supplier of plant protection and enhancement solutions for a variety of agricultural markets. For additional information please log on to www.morflora.com

Website: http://www.morflora.com/

Published: October 22, 2013