Rehovot, Israel
May 28, 2008
Evogene Ltd. (TASE: EVGN) today announced a collaboration
with Vilmorin, a French
seed breeder and the mother company of 'Hazera Genetics', to
improve yield and yield stability in tomatoes. Under the
agreement, Evogene has licensed to Vilmorin the rights to
certain genes discovered by Evogene, which have demonstrated
improved yield and yield stability in tomatoes. The financial
terms of the agreement were not disclosed.|
Vegetables are the world’s most important source of
micronutrients and an essential component of the world’s food
supply. The significant and continuous growth of world
population and improvements in quality of life, combined with an
on-going loss of land available for farming, has created an
immediate and rapidly increasing need for greater output of
vegetables. The development and introduction of vegetables with
improved yield and yield stability can contribute to both a more
sustainable food supply, and greater stability of growers'
income.
The candidate genes licensed to Vilmorin under this
collaboration were discovered by Evogene using its advanced
in-silico gene discovery technology, the 'ATHLETE'. These genes
have already undergone three years of field trials in tomatoes,
displaying consistent improvements in yield of over 20% under
both normal and environmental stress conditions. Through the
collaboration, Vilmorin will evaluate the influence of the
licensed genes on yield improvement in its elite varieties.
"We are very pleased to collaborate with Vilmorin, a world
leading breeder of elite vegetable seeds,” stated Mr. Assaf
Oron, Evogene's VP Strategy and Business Development. "The
licensed genes have shown significantly improved performance in
tomatoes, and we strongly believe in the potential to jointly
develop yield enhanced varieties based on Vilmorin's elite
germplasm.” Mr. Oron concluded.
Evogene is a leading developer of improved plants for the
ag-biotech and biofuel industries. The Company’s proprietary
product development platform combines world leading
computational gene discovery technologies, high throughput
selection systems and advanced breeding methods. The platform’s
computational biology component - the ATHLETE - is based on
Compugen's (Nasdaq: CGEN) in-silico predictive discovery
capabilities. Evogene's current programs focus on yield under
normal and various environmental stress conditions (such as
drought), fertilizer utilization and the improvement of plants
specifically for biofuel uses. Evogene has collaboration and
licensing agreements with world leading companies in the
ag-biotech and alternative energy industries. Evogene's
headquarters are in Rehovot, Israel, and is traded on the Tel
Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE:EVGN). For additional information,
please visit Evogene’s website at
www.evogene.com
Listed on Euronext Paris, Vilmorin is the fourth largest seed
company in the world, and an expert in the creation of novel
vegetable and field crop plants. Based on a sustainable,
responsible vision of its development, its strategy is a
successful combination of research and international growth. For
more information, please visit website at
www.vilmorin.info
Other news
from Vilmorin |
|
