Paradigm Genetics, Inc., a functional genomics company, today announced that it has successfully completed alterations or knock-outs in the genes of the rice blast fungus, Magnaporthe grisea, which significantly damages rice crops worldwide. In addition, the Company has completed alterations in 70% of the genes of the pathogen Septoria tritici, which causes serious damage in wheat. This achievement represents a significant advance in the Company's
Microbial Pathogen Program, which is focused on defining gene function for key fungal pathogens. The understanding of gene function for these pathogens may lead to improved products for crop protection.

"In the post-gene-sequencing era, efficiently determining gene function will be crucial to developing improved products,'' said John Ryals, CEO and President of Paradigm Genetics. "Paradigm's proprietary TAG-KO(TM) technology allowed us to create these gene alterations in an industrialized, high- throughput manner. The resulting discoveries are directly applicable to developing targeted and environmentally friendly fungicides for two major food crops that feed most of the world. In addition, we are increasing the value of this information by developing
products for other crops and for studying human fungal pathogens.''

"Until this point, these two fungal pathogens have been extremely difficult to analyze. This technology greatly enhances our ability to rapidly and efficiently analyze genomes of important crop and human pathogens,'' added John Hamer, Vice President of Research. "The TAG-KO(TM) technology has a major impact in our Microbial Pathogen Program.''

Paradigm Genetics' Microbial Pathogen Program is focused on discovering the function of genes in crop pathogens of major economic significance. The knockouts and alterations in Magnaporthe grisea and Septoria tritici were generated and analyzed using Paradigm's proprietary functional genomics technology, TAG-KO(TM), which uses mobile genetic elements to alter genes and directly understand their role in the disease process. Using TAG-KO, Paradigm Genetics has not only discovered novel gene functions, but also cataloged all the collected data in its proprietary bioinformatics system, FunctionFinder(TM).

The estimated global market for wheat and rice fungicides are $1.2 billion and $0.9 billion, respectively. The total estimated global market for crop protection fungicides is $6 billion. The worldwide market for human antifungals is estimated at $2.4 billion.

Paradigm Genetics is industrializing the process of gene function discovery for four major sectors of the global economy: nutrition, crop production, industrial products, and human health. Paradigm and its strategic partners intend to develop novel products, the company has designed the GeneFunction Factory(TM) - an integrated, rapid, industrial-scale laboratory through which it discovers gene function. Paradigm's GeneFunction Factory(TM) is based on a state of the art phenomics platform integrated with metabolic profiling and gene expression profiling technologies. The backbone of the GeneFunction Factory(TM) is the company's proprietary FunctionFinder(TM) bioinformatics system, used to collect, store, analyze, and retrieve information.

Company news release
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