St. Louis, Missouri
September 11, 2008
Scientists at
Monsanto Company (NYSE: MON) are a step closer to further
unlocking the yield potential of corn to help enable each seed
to increase its ability meet the world's growing demand for
food, feed and fuel.
The company announced today it has produced a genetic blueprint
of one of its top-performing elite female corn lines. The
scientific achievement, important for developing
better-performing corn seeds for farmers, was made through the
use of high throughput DNA sequencing methods, as well as data
generated by the recently completed maize genome project.
"These sequencing efforts will not only identify preferred genes
for our research and development pipelines, but move us into a
high-definition molecular breeding era that uses a combination
of sequence and markers
to derive future higher-yielding hybrids globally," said
Monsanto Chief Technology Officer Dr. Robert Fraley.
High throughput sequencing methods enable scientists to rapidly
identify variations in the genomes of complex organisms. In
health care, for example, high throughput sequencing aids in the
discovery of gene variants that can lead to development of new
medicines.
"In agriculture, high throughput sequencing has the potential to
provide an unprecedented level of detail about our current
market-leading hybrids and to point us in the direction of
meeting Monsanto's commitment to double yields in our core crops
by 2030," said Fraley.
In February, scientists led by a team of researchers at
Washington University completed a draft sequence of the corn
genome. Monsanto contributed valuable data that led to
completion of the draft sequence. Fraley said the company is
analyzing the blueprint of its own elite line in comparison to
the public maize genome sequence to identify genes Monsanto will
use in its breeding and biotechnology pipelines to develop
future hybrids.
Hybrid corn seed is planted by farmers each spring and is
developed by crossing two corn inbred parents, male and female.
Monsanto's elite parents represent the culmination of more than
a decade of intensive breeding effort, Fraley said.
In June the company announced a three-point commitment to
agriculture sustainability, which includes the goal of
developing better seeds to enable farmers to double yields in
corn, cotton and soybeans by the year 2030, compared to a base
year of 2000; helping farmers reduce by one-third the amount of
key resources required to grow crops by the year 2030; and
helping to improve farmers' lives globally.
Monsanto Company is a leading global provider of
technology-based solutions and agricultural products that
improve farm productivity and food quality.
Monsanto remains focused on enabling both small-holder and
large-scale farmers to produce more from their land while
conserving more of our world's natural resources such as water
and energy. |
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