NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Rosetta Genomics today said that it has secured $1.5 million in funding from undisclosed private investors to fund a new microRNA-based plant biotechnology project.
The Rehovot, Israel-based firm said that it has launched Rosetta Green, which will apply the firm’s knowledge gained from conducting research on microRNA-based diagnostics and therapeutics to plant-based applications. Rosetta said that it has already found a correlation between the expression of microRNAs and algal oil content, as well as starch and oil content in corn.
“Stemming from their role as master regulators of gene expression, microRNAs are believed to play a critical role in each major step in plant and algal development and may therefore affect biotech-related traits such as oil and starch content, stress-tolerance, growth rate, yield, and more,” said Rudy Maor, head of R&D at Rosetta Green, in a statement.