St.-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Québec
April 25, 2006
DNA LandMarks Inc.,
a world leader in DNA marker technology and a
BASF Plant Science unit,
announced today the launch of a major SNP marker development
project for tomato. The project represents a collaboration by a
number of private companies including Nunhems Netherlands BV,
Redi Plants Corp. and Western Seed International BV.
Single
nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are rapidly becoming the marker
system of choice based on the fact that they are highly
efficient to use. SNPs hold tremendous promise in expanding the
utility of marker-assisted plant breeding. Potential
applications include marker-assisted trait screening,
accelerated marker-assisted backcrossing, quantitative trait
loci (QTL) mapping and genetic fingerprinting.
The development of new genetic markers in
commercial tomato (L. esculentum) is of particular
interest since the low level of polymorphism in this crop has
limited what breeders could do with markers in the past. With
the addition of a large SNP library to their marker toolbox,
breeders will be able to accelerate their programs and manage
complex, multigenic traits.
“We believe that developing a library of SNP
markers in tomato will deliver tremendous value to breeders. We
have already seen this in the main field crops such as corn and
soybean. Tomato now stands to benefit in the same way.” said
DNA LandMarks CEO Dr. Joachim Richert.
The tomato SNP marker consortium is one of a
number of initiatives that DNA LandMarks is spearheading in its
drive to deliver improved marker services to the entire
agricultural value chain.
Since its foundation in 1995, DNA LandMarks Inc.
has been a world leader in DNA marker development and
applications. Today the company offers a full array of marker
technologies to the agricultural sector from development to
mapping to high-throughput application. DNA LandMarks is a unit
of BASF Plant Science and its Centre of Excellence for DNA
sequencing and genotyping.
To exploit the potential of
biotechnology, BASF, a leading player in agricultural products
and fine chemicals, established BASF Plant Science as its proper
plant biotechnology company in 1998. BASF Plant Science operates
a research and development platform in Europe and North America,
where more than 500 employees are developing products in the
following areas: crops for a more efficient agriculture and
for the production of renewable raw materials as well as
plants for healthier nutrition. Examples are plants with
higher vitamin content, or with omega-3-fatty acids that can
prevent cardiovascular diseases.
BASF is the world’s leading chemical company: The Chemical
Company. In 2005, BASF had approximately 81,000 employees and
posted sales of more than €42.7 billion. |
