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Overview

• Founded in 2013, began operations in 2015• UNL “Spinout” – core technology (patents) owned by UNL• Founders Sally Mackenzie and Mike Fromm are former faculty• Raised $6.2MM Series A from investors• Located on N. 56th/HWY 77• 9 FTEs• The first company using epigenetics to enhance plant

performance

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What Epicrop Does

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Best current elite

germplasm

Epigenetic information

without introducing

DNA

Higher yields in

crops

• Large, step change increase in yield and stress tolerance (akin to heterosis)• Non-GMO, regulatory free utilizing traditional breeding methods

What can our technology do?

• Large, heterosis-like 20%+ yield increases• Broadly applicable, works in nearly all important crops• Product does have DNA sequence changes, is not a

GMO, and does not fall under any definition of GMO in any export geography

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Epigenetic DNA Methylation Changes Occur Naturally and are a heritable form of biological information in plants

• Epigenetics does not cause changes to DNA, RNA or Protein sequences

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Graphics credit: “What is epigenetics?” Carlos Guerrero-Bosagna/TED-ED

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Graphics credit: “What is epigenetics?” Carlos Guerrero-Bosagna/TED-ED

Our technology temporarily suppresses MSH1 to create new epigenetic improvements for high performance plants

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Target Plant

Suppress Msh1 to Change Epigenetics (DNA Methylation)

Restore Msh1 to Normal and Maintain Epigenetics Changes

Epigenetically Improved Plants for Breeding and Production (without any transgenes or DNA sequence changes)

MSH1 is a MutS homolog found only in land plants The MSH1 Epigenetic Process:

Crop species tested to date

• Soybean: 15-25% yield increases in field trials, multiple varieties and technology formats

• Tomato: 20-70% yield increases in multiple varieties and formats, greenhouse and field trials

• Sorghum: 30%+ yield increases in field trials

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Technology Formats

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Hybrid-Like

Graft Transmitted

Epigenetic parent line (made from elite)

Elite “normal” variety

Epigenetic enhanced elite variety

Development of Epigenetic Graft Progeny

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Create Epigenetically Primed Parent Plant

Epigenetically Primed Rootstock

Graft Wild-Type Scion

MaturityGraft Harvest S1 Seed

S2

S3

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50

60

70

80

90

100

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120

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190

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1st gen seed after graft 2nd gen seed after graft 3rd gen seed after graftControl Entry 1 Entry 2 Entry 3 Control Entry 4 Entry 5 Entry 6 Entry 7 Entry 8 Control Entry 9 Entry 10

Average Plot Yield (n=3)

81.4 113.8 106.9 75.2 79.4 141.4 113.4 126.5 136.1 125.5 99.5 126.0 124.8

% Over Grafted Control

40% 31% -8% 78% 43% 59% 71% 58% 27% 25%

Tota

l Fru

it Yi

eld

(lbs)

2017 Florida Tomato Field Trials: 3 reps of S1, S2 and S3 self pollinated

Conclusion:Yield improved in all 3 generations, from 25-78% increase

Epigenetics can significantly improve heat tolerance

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RutgersControl

Epigenetic Hybrid-Like

Rutgers

RutgersControl Epigenetic Hybrid-Like Rutgers

Epicrop pipeline

• Near in focus on dicots:• Enhanced Soybean & Process Tomato varieties: testing now, aiming for

commercialization in 2020• Enhanced Cotton & Canola: in early development, testing starting in

2020, commercialization 2021 or 2022• Active partnerships in tomato, canola, strawberry

• Monocots - longer term:• Corn: active development• Wheat, small grains: early stage proof of concept

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Why do we need new technology?

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Technology landscape matrixEpicrop's MSH1

Epigenetic Technology

Conventional Breeding Gene Editing (Non-regulated)Microbiological Seed

TreatmentsGene Editing /

Transgenic (Regulated)

Primary Benefit

Address most difficult trait to obtain: yield++; works in many species; non-GMO, global non-regulated pathway

Not going away- this is the mainstay of any seed company; companies believe more juice in the squeeze with computational genomics techniques

Useful for single gene targets like ALS resistance; deletions and cisgenic traits will not be regulated in the US

Potential for simple additive treatments to add useful disease resistance, better nutrition and modestly enhance yield; can be organic labeled

Novel traits like Bt and Roundup can be extremely effective; lots of potentially useful products

Primary Challenge

Still relatively slow time to product; Need to demonstrate sufficient data story

Really slow, incremental changes; big moves are already done; difficult to introgress novel traits; increasingly very $$$ to get modest gains

Lack of single gene targets for useful products; useless for polygenic traits; products may not be exportable; CRISPR IP is messy

Not proven at all; very difficult to identify useful candidates; plausible for specific issues, but less plausible for yield + in all conditions

De-regulation is expensive and impossible in some geographies; consumer stigma; no targets directly enhance yield

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Challenges

• Greenhouse space & facilities• Specialized talent required• Market conditions• Finding the right investors• Balancing product development,

R&D, and funding constraints

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Outlook

• Data quality drives our success• Building on successful field trials• Scale as the market allows us to• Continue core R&D as well as new product

development

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Growth Chambers

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Greenhouse space

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Thank you

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Slide Number 1OverviewWhat Epicrop DoesWhat can our technology do?Epigenetic DNA Methylation Changes Occur Naturally and are a heritable form of biological information in plantsSlide Number 6Slide Number 7Our technology temporarily suppresses MSH1 to create new epigenetic improvements for high performance plantsCrop species tested to dateTechnology FormatsDevelopment of Epigenetic Graft ProgenySlide Number 12Epigenetics can significantly improve heat toleranceEpicrop pipelineWhy do we need new technology?Technology landscape matrixChallengesOutlookSlide Number 19Growth ChambersGreenhouse spaceThank you