NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Cogenics and Roche subsidiary 454 Life Sciences will collaborate to develop SNPs for the plant breeder Limagrain that could be used to engineer better crops including wheat, Cogenics’ parent company Clinical Data said today.
Under the agreement, Cogenics will develop a genome complexity reduction assay to select gene-rich portions of a crop genome across multiple variants of the species.
Clinical Data said Cogenics will work with 454 to sequence around 2Gb of the wheat genome using the GS-FLX sequencer. The sequencing is the first step in a two-stage process, through which the companies will identify molecular markers linked with desirable characteristics.
Jean-Pierre Martinant, who heads a genotyping facility of Limagrain Verneuil Holding in France, said the collaboration with Cogenics and 454 “will significantly enhance our ability to accelerate the large scale genotyping campaigns required to meet the goals of this project.”
Financial terms of the agreement were not released.