Lynx Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: LYNX) today announced the acceptance for publication of two peer-reviewed manuscripts in scientific journals that describe the first application of Lynx's Massively Parallel Signature Sequencing, or MPSS(TM), technology in a sequenced plant genome.  The manuscripts will appear in Plant Physiology (June 2004) and Genome Research (August 2004).

The articles include key findings from the data analysis as well as descriptions of the group's bioinformatics approaches, public MPSS(TM) resource, and computational tools for Arabidopsis MPSS(TM) data.  The findings and developments were based on analysis of more than 36 million signatures from 14 MPSS(TM) libraries by the research group of Dr. Blake Meyers at the University of Delaware.  Arabidopsis thaliana is an important experimental model for many crop plants.

"Data and tools described in the publications have been made available via a unique and intuitive web interface that facilitates public access to MPSS(TM) data and serves as a resource to the scientific community," Dr. Meyers said.  "These research experiments and analyses take advantage of the sequenced genome of Arabidopsis to align MPSS(TM) signatures and identify and measure expression of the majority of Arabidopsis genes in diverse tissues."

The web site can be found at http://mpss.udel.edu/at.

These papers, and several more that are underway, comprise the bulk of the research supported by a grant from the U.S. National Science Foundation to analyze gene expression in the model plant Arabidopsis.  The statistical power of MPSS(TM) and the focus of these data sets on the most important model system used by plant biologists is expected to make the information in these reports and the web site useful to numerous researchers in the plant sciences. MPSS(TM) is new enough to plant biologists that these resources are likely to provide a cornerstone reference for future work using this technology.  By better defining the genes in the plant genome, scientists will be able to find new targets for improving crop nutrition and growth characteristics.

In addition to this study, the previously announced rice transcriptome study conducted by Lynx and the University of Delaware is well underway. This study also uses Lynx's MPSS(TM) technology.  The rice transcriptome project is a collaborative research program with the University of Delaware to characterize gene expression patterns in a large set of diverse tissues from rice, an important crop plant and a model for other cereals such as corn and wheat.  This four-year, multi-million dollar study, is also led by Dr. Meyers and supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation.

About University of Delaware

Located in Newark, Delaware, the University of Delaware was founded in 1743 and is a state-assisted, privately controlled institution, enrolling over 16,000 undergraduates and nearly 3,000 graduate students.  It is the major research university in Delaware.  The Delaware Biotechnology Institute (DBI) is a statewide collaboration among universities, state government, and the private sector that houses faculty from diverse University of Delaware departments.  It was founded to help establish Delaware as a center of excellence in biotechnology and the life sciences.

About Lynx

Lynx is a leader in the development and application of novel genomic analysis solutions.  Lynx's MPSS(TM) instruments analyze millions DNA molecules in parallel enabling genome structure characterization at an unprecedented level of resolution.  As applied to gene expression analysis, MPSS(TM) provides comprehensive and quantitative digital information important to modern systems biology research in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and agricultural industries.