Plant growth firms flourish

Two start-ups are developing technologies to help plants grow by stimulating or regulating their metabolic pathways. Texas Crop Science, a University of Texas spin-off, is working on a plant growth regulator that it says can increase crop productivity. The company’s first round of venture capital, from Five T Investments and Korenvaes Horizon Partners, will fund work on apyrases, enzymes that regulate the concentration of extracellular adenosine triphosphate (eATP). Separately, MicroPEP has joined the French start-up incubator Toulouse White Biotechnology. The firm is developing plant-produced “micropeptides” to act as growth stimulators and herbicides.