NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) — Plant diagnostics firm EnviroLogix has licensed nucleic acid technology from Ionian Technologies that it will use in tests for the agricultural, plant pathogen, and veterinary testing markets, EnviroLogix said today.
Portland, Maine-based EnviroLogix, which offers on-site and lab-based immunoassays for detecting transgenic proteins, has licensed Ionian’s Nicking Enzyme Amplification Reaction (NEAR) technology under an exclusive and worldwide license and technology transfer agreement.
The tests will use Ionian’s isothermal amplification methods to detect DNA and RNA in less than 10 minutes with the same sensitivity as PCR-based tests, EnviroLogix said. The NEAR technology can be used to “detect single base changes between two otherwise similar sequences,” and the amplification products can be detected using both fluorescent and lateral flow methods, the firm said.
EnviroLogix has developed tests for detection of mold, mycotoxins, algal toxins, pesticides, and plant pathogens.
Financial terms of the agreement were not released.