Moshav Yashresh and Ness Ziona, Israel
February 2, 2022
NRGene (TASE: NRGN), and Philoseed announce a major milestone in the development of high resistant tomato varieties to overcome the tomato brown rugose fruit virus – ToBRFV. This advance encompasses the discovery of a unique region in the tomato genome, essential to the tomatoes’ resistance to the virus. The companies are in the process of patent protection of this previously unreported genomic region.
The highly contagious tomato virus has been spreading rapidly in Europe, Asia, Africa, and in parts of Mexico and the US, threatening the tomato industry worldwide.
In an effort to combat the virus, NRGene and Philoseed partnered in November 2020 to develop varieties resistant to ToBRFV, leveraging NRGene’s predictive computational abilities and Philoseed’s unique resistance source and breeding expertise.
This discovery of a unique tomato genomic region is another step forward towards complete resistance solution. It will facilitate the development of DNA markers and seeds of ToBRFV high resistance (HR) tomato varieties and is expected to be completed by the end of 2022. NRGene is currently offering early access to the discovered genomic region and DNA markers, and has already signed several commercial contracts, commercializing ToBRFV HR trait with Israeli, European and US companies.
“This significant milestone will accelerate the resistance development process, bringing higher quality, high-yielding varieties to the entire tomato values chain all the way up to our plates,” said Dr. Gil Ronen, NRGene’s CEO.
“We are thrilled and highly optimistic that this discovery will open up new and exciting avenues to enable breeding tomato varieties with dominant high resistance to the ToBRFV. We believe that the synergy between the Philoseed and NRGene teams paves the way for further highly productive collaboration toward the discovery of sources of other important resistances for the development of high-quality tomato varieties,” said Amit Schwarz, Philoseed’s CEO.
Click here to download the White Paper with more information and a technical overview of the discovered QTL.
About NRGene
NRGene is a Genomics company that provides turnkey solutions. Relying on a vast proprietary database and AI-based technologies, we provide the largest seed and food companies in the world with the computational tools they need to maximize their crop yield, significantly saving them time and cost. NRGene’s tools have already been implemented by some of the leading agribiotech companies worldwide, as well as the most influential research teams in academia.
For more information please visit our website at www.nrgene.com.
About Philoseed
Philoseed is a tomato breeding company with vast experience in tomato seeds and produce marketing and was established by a group of senior experts from Israel’s leading seed companies. Philoseed integrates tomato seed state-of-the-art know-how in breeding, agro-technology, and production. The company’s goal is to lead the global seed industry in the breeding of novel superior tomato varieties.
For further information please visit our website at www.philoseed.com
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