Monheim, Germany
April 7, 2009
Extreme temperatures and limited
water availability are major stresses for plants and cause
dramatic losses to agriculture around the world.
Ben-Gurion University (BGU)
has announced the establishment of a research collaboration with
Bayer BioScience
to find solutions to this critical problem. This agreement
builds upon the expertise and breakthrough results from Dr.
Simon Barak’s laboratory at the University’s Jacob Blaustein
Institutes for Desert Research (BIDR), situated in Sede Boqer
and a world leader in arid zone research.
Barak’s team is using a combination of approaches to identify
genes that allow plants to tolerate the harsh environmental
stresses characteristic of arid regions. Two of these genes have
been studied in detail and the team found that by removing
either of the two genes, the tolerance of the model plant,
Arabidopsis, to heat, salt and drought could be increased. This
study was published recently in Plant Physiology, a high impact
international journal.
Signed between BGN Technologies – the technology transfer
company of BGU and Bayer CropScience, the agreement will allow
the identification of additional genes that make plants
“stress-resistant”. Barak, a member of the French Associates
Institute for Agriculture and Biotechnology of Drylands at the
BIDR, noted that the new collaboration will allow his team to
further sift through the estimated 30,000 Arabidopsis genes to
identify additional candidate stress tolerance genes.
Bayer BioScience, one of the three business groups of Bayer
CropScience AG, plays a prominent international role in the
development and commercialization of seeds for agricultural
crops. The company uses plant biotechnology and refinement
techniques to develop varieties that are adapted to the
requirements of tomorrow’s agriculture. BioScience has more that
2100 employees worldwide and is headquartered in Lyon, France.
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