As part of its new research strategy, Keygene N.V. has established a strategic collaboration with the Institute for Water and Wetland Research (IWWR) of the Radboud University Nijmegen. With the deal the IWWR of Radboud University will benefit from Keygene's DNA marker technology and expertise and Keygene will get access to the research results of the IWWR in the field of recombination in plants. As part of the deal Prof. A.M.G. Gerats of the plant genetics group of the IWWR department Experimental Plant Sciences will join the research group of Keygene as a Program Scientist for two days per week. The focus of Prof. Gerats' work will be on 'Recombination and Reproduction' in which Prof. Gerats and his group have a long track record.

Arjen van Tunen, CEO of Keygene N.V. states that the alliance with the IWWR Radboud University will strengthen Keygene's position in the competitive field of innovative research for the breeding industry. 'This novel kind of strategic collaboration between a university and a research company will help us to realize the breakthrough solutions and innovative applications for the plant breeding industry, in particular for our shareholder vegetable breeding companies'.

Tom Gerats: 'teaming up with Keygene, with its excellent reputation in plant breeding applications and experienced research team provides us with new possibilities to increase the critical mass and to speed up our research. In addition, this alliance greatly enhances our opportunities to enlarge and strengthen our fundamental research at the IWWR; the possibilities to translate our research results more directly to applications for Keygene and the breeding industry are very exciting'.

About Keygene

Keygene N.V. is a R&D company with the mission to be the leading company in developing and applying DNA expertise in the field of molecular genetics for its shareholder breeding companies. Keygene has developed a strong proprietary technology platform based on AFLP®, a DNA marker technology for genome analysis, transcript profiling and genetic analysis. For diagnostic purposes, SNPWave™, a multiplexed SNP detection technology was developed. Keygene exploits its proprietary technologies, databases and know-how through contract research and products for applications in the Life Sciences industry and more specifically in innovative breeding applications
such as Breeding by Design™. Keygene has five shareholders consisting of major vegetable seed companies that collaborate in the BioSeeds B.V. strategic alliance: DeRuiter Zonen, ENZA Zaden, Rijk Zwaan, Vilmorin, Clause & Cie and Takii & Co Ltd. Keygene has around 100 researchers and staff.

About IWWR/Plant Genetics

The Institute for Water and Wetland Research (IWWR) stimulates interdisciplinary cooperation between scientists engaged in microbiology, ecology, plant and environmental sciences. The mission of the IWWR is to integrate these disciplines and to stimulate joint research that will increase our understanding of interactions between plants, animals, and micro-organisms, their interactions with the environment, and to find solutions to a variety of problems arising from these interactions.

IWWR's plant geneticists are working on floral morphogenesis. The floral B function, which specifies petal and stamen development, is composed of two closely related MADS box proteins. In 2004 it was demonstrated that gene duplications in both lineages of Petunia hybrida have led to functional diversification. The activity of PhDEF, PhGLO1, and PhGLO2 appear to function as DEF/GLO in Antirrhinum and to a lesser extent as AP3/PI in Arabidopsis. By contrast, the new data suggest that the function of the fourth B-class MADS box member, the paleoAP3-type PhTM6 gene, differs significantly from the known euAP3-type DEF/AP3-like proteins. Several genes belonging to the MADS box transcription factor family have also been shown to be involved in the transition from vegetative to reproductive growth. The Petunia hybrida gene UNSHAVEN was expressed in vegetative tissues, and is down-regulated upon floral initiation and the formation of floral meristems. To understand the role of UNS in the flowering process, knockout mutants were analysed and UNS was expressed ectopically in petunia and Arabidopsis. No phenotype was observed in petunia plants in which UNS was disrupted by transposon insertion, indicating that its function is redundant. An UNSHAVEN floral phenotype, accompanied by a delay in flowering, was obtained when a truncated version of UNS, lacking the MADS box domain, was introduced. This work was performed in collaboration with PRI at Wageningen University.

The AFLP® technology, GeneDiscloserTM and SNPWaveTM technology are covered by patents and/or patent applications owned by Keygene N.V. and AFLP® is a registered trademark of Keygene N.V. GeneDiscloserTM, Breeding by DesignTM and SNPWaveTM are trademarks of Keygene N.V.