Although the science behind our platform technology and intellectual property (IP) for creating and replicating stem cells in space is complex, the scientific basis underlying the technology can be easily understood. Since our initial commercial focus is on food and renewable energy crops, this overview will concentrate on plant stem cells and how growing them in space is vastly different from growing them on Earth.
In 4 billion years of life on Earth, almost everything about the environment has changed; however, there has always been ONE CONSTANT: All life on Earth has formed within the confines of 1G. To overcome gravity, about 50% of the energy expended by terrestrial-bound plants is dedicated to structural support. By removing gravity from the equation, plant cells in a weightless environment react to this relatively benign environmental change by going into survival mode. The excess of energy causes Differential Gene Expression, wherein normally dormant genes within the cell, often referred to as “junk DNA”, are able to express themselves. With these dormant genes now expressing, the plant is able to adapt quickly to a changing environment and specific stressors.
Growing stem cells in the weightless environment of the International Space Station (ISS) also provides for Mass Propagation of these novel stem cells on an order of magnitude greater than here on earth because stem cells in space are able to replicate in a 3D, exponential manner.
The technology enabled by our IP allows us to change the genome without changing the DNA. These changes in the genome of the plant are done without the need for additive or subtractive genomic engineering, thus the plant is still natural only with previously dormant genes now expressed and is therefore considered non-GMO.