Madison, Wisconsin
January 9, 2009
Roche NimbleGen and
Biogemma entered into a
research agreement which will apply Roche NimbleGen’s
array-based Sequence Capture complexity reduction technology to
provide targeted re-sequencing of crop plant genomes. The goal
of this partnership is to develop new technologies that enable
large-scale genomic marker discovery in plants, which will
greatly facilitate marker-assisted breeding programs to select
the crops with desirable traits that will benefit human lives.
The collaboration will target highly polyploidy plant genomes
including wheat and rapeseed (canola). These large polyploid
genomes (16 Gbp for hexaploid wheat, 1.2 Gb for canola),
necessitate complexity reduction for single nucleotide
polymorphism (SNP) discovery to target or capture the unique DNA
sequences associated with genes of high utility to crop breeders
from the majority of insignificant, repetitive DNA sequences
present in the genome. Biogemma plans to power their proprietary
sequences with NimbleGen technology to accelerate discoveries
for the molecular breeding programs of their shareholders. This
co-development leverages recent optimizations of Roche
NimbleGen’s core Sequence Capture technology for the Genome
Sequencer FLX Titanium series sequencing platform from 454 Life
Sciences.
According to Gerd Maass, CEO of Roche NimbleGen, “Roche
NimbleGen is extremely pleased to partner with Biogemma on the
application of Sequence Capture, a revolutionary technology that
can target only the DNA sequences of interest to reduce time and
cost. This collaboration will expand the understanding of plant
genome structure and aid in the research and development of
advanced agricultural species to improve food safety, increase
productivity, and help improve the quality of life worldwide.”
According to Pascual Perez, CEO of Biogemma, “With the
impressive increase of genomics sequences into crops, we’ve
found the sequence capture technology developed by Roche
NimbleGen a crucial technology to capture the maximum of genetic
diversity in important genomics areas for major crops. Wheat and
Canola are very valuable crops for our seed business
shareholders and, due to their genome structure, remain very
challenging to develop efficient molecular markers on a larger
scale. Biogemma is strongly convinced that this strategic
partnership with Roche NimbleGen will result in the development
of a targeted sequence capture technology for such crops. This
will significantly enhance our gene discovery capabilities and
the development of numerous genetic markers linked to important
traits for the benefit of our shareholders. Importantly, this
will also speed their breeding programs and reduce their time to
market, both of which will have a significant impact on
agriculture.”
Biogemma is a leading agricultural biotech company in Europe
involved in Genomics applied to Field Crops. Result of the
merger of the biotech activity of three major seed business
companies specialized in plant improvement, Vilmorin Company (
Limagrain Group), Euralis and RAGT and with the help of two
financial institutions Sofiproteol and Unigrain with the support
of the technical agency Arvalis, the company is developing R&D
programs with its partners, in 4 major field crops : Corn,
Wheat, Sunflower and Rapeseed. Their primary focus is the
greatest challenge in agriculture: to explain, explore and
enrich the genetic diversity of those crops with the aims of
yield improvement, low input of fertilizers, biotic and abiotic
stresses tolerances and quality and speciality grain compounds.
Biogemma is committed to using an environmentally responsible
approach and the latest technology to enable crop breeders to
develop innovative plant products and food chains, a primary
reason why Roche NimbleGen engaged in this synergistic
partnership.
Roche NimbleGen is a leading innovator, manufacturer, and
supplier of a proprietary suite of DNA microarrays, consumables,
instruments, and services. Roche NimbleGen uniquely produces
high-density arrays of long oligo probes that provide greater
information content and higher data quality necessary for
studying the full diversity of genomic and epigenomic variation.
The improved performance is made possible by Roche NimbleGen’s
proprietary Maskless Array Synthesis (MAS) technology, which
uses digital light processing and rapid, high-yield
photochemistry to synthesize long oligo, high-density DNA
microarrays with extreme flexibility. For more information about
Roche NimbleGen, please visit the company’s website at
www.nimblegen.com.
Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, Roche is one of the world’s
leading research-focused healthcare groups in the fields of
pharmaceuticals and diagnostics. As the world’s biggest biotech
company and an innovator of products and services for the early
detection, prevention, diagnosis and treatment of diseases, the
Group contributes on a broad range of fronts to improving
people’s health and quality of life. Roche is the world leader
in in-vitro diagnostics and drugs for cancer and
transplantation, and is a market leader in virology. It is also
active in other major therapeutic areas such as autoimmune
diseases, inflammatory and metabolic disorders and diseases of
the central nervous system. In 2007 sales by the Pharmaceuticals
Division totaled 36.8 billion Swiss francs, and the Diagnostics
Division posted sales of 9.3 billion francs. Roche has R&D
agreements and strategic alliances with numerous partners,
including majority ownership interests in Genentech and Chugai,
and invested over 8 billion Swiss francs in R&D in 2007.
Worldwide, the Group employs about 80,000 people. Additional
information is available on the Internet at www.roche.com.
NIMBLEGEN is a trademark of Roche.
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