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Munich, Germany
May 27, 2008
A consortium funded in frame of
the German Plant Genome Program "GABI" has selected
Eurofins MWG Operon as
partner for sequencing and assembling of gene-rich parts of the
barley genome. The project is carried out by multiplex
sequencing of pools of BAC clones with Roche GS FLX / 454
technology and customised software solutions.
Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) has been one of the first crop
species domesticated in the Fertile Crescent over 10,000 years
ago. It ranks fourth among cereals in worldwide production and
is widely cultivated from the Arctic Circle to the tropics.
The barley genome - with 5.3 billion letters of genetic code -
is one of the largest in cereal crops and roughly twice the size
of the human genome. An international consortium (IBSC) has
recently formed for a joint effort towards deciphering the
sequence information of the barley gene space, and with the
longer term goal, to develop a high quality reference sequence
of the entire genome – a prerequisite for future accelerated
crop improvement by efficient utilisation of barley natural
genetic diversity.
Under the umbrella of GABI (Genome Analysis in the Biological
System Plant) financed by the German Ministry for Education and
Research (BMBF), four German research institutions, the Leibniz
Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK),
Gatersleben (Coordinator), Fritz-Lipmann-Institute for Age
Research (FLI), Jena, the Munich Information Center for Protein
Sequences (MIPS), Munich and the Julius-Kühn-Institute (JKI),
Quedlinburg, cooperate on the project in scope of the IBSC
working agenda.
Dr. Nils Stein, IPK Gatersleben, coordinator of the project
says: “We have been surprised about the excellent sequencing
quality, delivered by the Roche GS FLX. Most convincing however
was the outstanding quality of the sequence assembly, achieved
by the customised software solutions of Eurofins MWG Operon.”
Dr. Georg Gradl, Sales Manager Sequencing Europe, says: “We are
proud, that we have been able to set new standards in data
quality generated from next generation sequencing technology.
Our efforts in developing customised software tools and
proprietary processes distinguish us from other service centres
and convinced our partners to choose Eurofins MWG Operon as
reliable partner for this important sequencing project.”
Financial terms have not been disclosed.
Eurofins MWG Operon, a member of the Eurofins Group with
major offices and production places in Europe, the United States
and Asia, is an international provider of DNA sequencing
services, DNA/siRNA synthesis products and bioinformatic
services for academic and industrial research. The company’s
strength is its strong customer orientation, fast service and
high quality products including a series of advanced
oligonucleotide and siRNA design tools. For further information,
please visit the corporate website at:
www.eurofinsdna.com.
The IBSC is represented by a number of international
institutions, the IPK Gatersleben, Germany, the University of
Minnesota, USA, the Australian Centre for Plant Functional
Genomics, Australia, the National Institute of Agrobiological
Sciences, Japan, the Research Institute for Bioresources,
Okayama University, Japan, the MTT/BI Plant Genomics Laboratory,
University of Helsinki, Finland, the Scottish Crop Research
Institute, Scotland, the Department of Agriculture-Agricultural
Research Service (USDA-ARS) and Iowa State University, Ames, IA,
USA For further information visit the IBSC website at:
www.barleygenome.org
The Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research
(IPK) in Gatersleben is a publically-funded research institute
and member of the Leibniz Association, comprising 82 research
institutions in Germany. It is an internationally renowned
research centre that deals with issues of modern biology, mainly
by studying cultivated plant species. The discovery of
fundamental principles of plant performance and the development
of enabling technologies are considered to be of paramount
importance to understand the principles that underlie the
evolution of crop plants and to develop knowledge-based
strategies for the targeted utilisation of biological diversity
for a sustainable production of food, feed and renewable
resources. As a central resource for plant research on a global
scale and as a contribution to the conservation of genetic
resources, the Federal ex situ Genebank for agricultural and
horticultural plant species comprises about 148,000 accessions
representing more than 3,000 species. The IPK Gatersleben has
around 480 employees, thereof approximately 190 scientists from
twenty nations. For further information visit the IPK website
at:
www.ipk-gatersleben.de |
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