About Us

GrassRoots' mission is to employ cutting-edge expertise in agricultural biotechnology to create better biofuel, food and industrial crops. GrassRoots is an agricultural biotechnology company that utilizes a Systems Biology approach to develop novel and valuable crop lines for the biofuel, food and industrial markets. The company, formed in 2007, intends to commercialize innovations and expertise developed by Dr. Philip Benfey at Duke University. Dr. Benfey is one of the world leaders in the fields of genomics and development. His research in the areas of plant genomics and plant root development form the core of our technologies, which will provide a competitive advantage in bringing new products to the agricultural markets.

 

Our Focus on Plant Roots

Plant roots play a vital, yet not well-understood, role in plant growth. In addition to providing anchorage, roots are the primary site of nutrient and water acquisition. To perform these tasks, primary roots extend into the soil and produce additional branching roots that originate from internal tissues.

The network of the different types of roots, described as root architecture, can vary dramatically between plant species, from tap root systems with a dominant primary root that extends vertically underground, to fibrous root systems that spread horizontally. This diversity represents evolutionary adaptations to environmental conditions.

A great deal of effort in the field of plant breeding has focused on optimizing observable above-ground traits. However, little effort has focused on plant roots because they have thus far been largely inaccessible. GrassRoots will employ our expertise in plant roots to create valuable new crop lines by optimizing plant root architecture.