Seed treatment under UV-B light.
Professor Jason Wargent's UV-B light research exploits responses in natural plant genes for enhanced plant performance. The culmination of his research is BioLumic, an agricultural biotechnology company.
(September 12, 2024) - Massey University Professor in Plant Photobiology Jason Wargent has dedicated his career to developing new scientific knowledge that can enhance sustainable crop production. The culmination of his research is BioLumic, an agricultural biotechnology company that uses UV-B light to exploit responses in natural plant genes for enhanced plant performance. The BioLumic team has made novel research discoveries that will not only impact the scientific understanding of plant responses to light, but also help usher in a sustainable and robust food future.
The science journey
Joining Massey’s School of Agriculture and Environment in 2010 as an early-career researcher, Wargent studies plant responses to environmental factors that will increase crop production sustainability and quality. His specific focus is on plant photobiology, specifically how photoreceptor systems and signalling networks regulate plant developmental characteristics and physiological responses, especially those related to UV radiation.
With the support of a Marsden Fund Fast-Start grant (2014-2017), this research led him to investigate the importance and function of the UV-B plant photoreceptor UVR8. The inflection point in this early research was the creation of the first commercial UV LEDs that emerged in the early 2010s. Wargent says, “We bet the future of the company that the LEDs would become more efficient and cheaper, which they did.”
Wargent discovered that using modern LED technology to apply light treatments to plants and, more significantly, to seeds can dramatically increase plant growth, vigour and crop yields.
BioLumic has proven that only a few seconds of seed exposure to the technology is sufficient to induce agriculturally desirable crop traits without the need for chemicals or genetic modification approaches.
BioLumic has created novel light treatments – recipes of different combinations of light wavelength, intensity, duration and other interacting factors – through a combination of photobiological science, proprietary engineering and molecular biology that are biologically matched to the seed and plant type and variety. The treatments “unlock the seed’s natural genetic potential by regulating genetic expression,” in other words, by targeting the plant’s natural biology. Wargent estimates that roughly 2.5 billion unique light recipes are possible.
Wargent reflects that he’s always been “a multi-disciplinary researcher” working with farmers and growers rather than just being incubated in a lab. The photobiology research is no different.
The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) awarded BioLumic a Partnerships investment in 2018, which allowed them to build the science platform while collaborating with New Zealand and overseas companies. They opened the Massey-hosted BioLumic research and development facility, the world’s first UV photobiology R&D centre.
The mixed model and market-driven approach have propelled the science faster than Wargent anticipated. He says, “The underlying science in the company has gone stratospheric in the last two years."
The science results
A unique Light Signal Platform allows BioLumic to look inside the plant to measure gene expression levels (similarly to a COVID-19 lab test) and find a light recipe match to treat the seed. Simply put, they can screen which genes are changing in their expressions and then use data modelling to match that expression to the desired plant response. BioLumic has created an assay to match quickly the target to the treatment.
BioLumic has had great success with row crops (corn, soybean), strawberries, and cannabis. With each of these plants, they have been able to increase yield and plant health. In corn and soybean, they have accomplished double-digit yield gains and higher quality in 3,000+ field trials. Treated strawberry plants show a 47% average increase in fruit yield per plant across a whole season without compromising fruit size or sugar levels. Cannabis treatments have proven to increase yield, potency, terpene profiles and plant health.
They are also testing and finding light treatments to protect crops from pest and disease. Through PhD project research, the company found they can halve the amount of disease in leafy vegetables and have had similar results with pest and disease suppression in soybean.
Wargent believes that the recent phase of BioLumic’s work has now started to generate “significant breakthroughs” in terms of fundamental scientific understanding of light activation signalling and for plant science in general – “it's a very exciting time.”
The research impact
The increased crop, fruit and potency yields are obviously impactful on food and medicine production. BioLumic is also researching how plants can be used to lower agricultural greenhouse gas emissions.
With funding support from AgriZero, they are treating ryegrass seed, the most common pasture grass in New Zealand. The light treatments have unlocked higher concentrations of polyunsaturated fats in the plants, which reduce the methane emissions from cows. Biolumic received a grant for rice seed research from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Rice grown in flooded areas – the traditional way to grow rice, which is also planted by hand in seedling form – emits high volumes of greenhouse gases. So, in northern India, farmers and seed companies are working on dry soil seeded rice cultivation instead of through flooding. The challenge is that the plants don’t establish as well in direct soil-sown environments, but the BioLumic treatments are showing strong progress in the increase of plant establishment.
The treatments also increase nutrient use efficiency. For farming, this nutrient efficiency means they can replace expensive, harmful tools and methods with a natural system to harness the natural aspects of the plants. The crop efficiency goes even further, too: root growth is strong, so the plants require fewer nutrient supplements. Nitrous oxide emissions may also be reduced.
Reflections on how they got here and where to next
Wargent reflects on Massey’s crucial role across all aspects of BioLumic’s existence, “a unilateral support,” he says. Professor Peter Kemp, who was Head of School when Wargent first arrived, opened up the pathway by granting him full support to go forward and pursue entrepreneurial scientific research. Massey Ventures supported them, too, and they had the drive to connect to the market from the beginning. Wargent’s research excellence supported by Massey and successful grants saw a rapid trajectory from early career researcher to full professor and successful start-up founder within a decade.
BioLumic has continued to sponsor PhD and master's students. “We would like to do much more with doctoral training initiatives,” he adds. The ecosystem between Massey and BioLumic has been fostered positively, and the current ryegrass research provides many avenues for large exciting new collaborations with colleagues in the School of Agriculture and Environment.
BioLumic’s science-driven impact is recognized internationally. They were the first New Zealand ag technology start-up to raise a Series A investment round led by overseas venture capital investors. They have a collaboration with Gro Alliance, the United States’ largest independent seed company. BioLumic will deliver its first commercially scalable seed light treatment system to Gro Alliance later in 2024, the first at-scale company endeavor, to use on Gro Alliance’s corn seed and with other partner companies.
They believe that they have uncovered “only the tip of the iceberg” in terms of possibilities of the photobiology science, as the results continue to get better and more impactful. BioLumic is launching commercial seed treatments in early 2025.
Professor Jason Wargent
Professor in Plant Photobiology
Professor Wargent's research focuses on understanding plant responses to environmental factors within the context of increased sustainability and quality in crop production. His primary interest is the role of sunlight and ultraviolet (UV) radiation. His research encompasses fundamental plant science and application of that knowledge through commercialisation pathways.
