NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – KeyGene and Incotec today said they are intensifying their two-year old collaboration to develop SNP assays for additional crops.
The firms originally started collaborating in 2012 and since then they have developed and commercialized SNP assays called UniSNP for tomato, pepper, cucumber, melon, watermelon, lettuce, and sunflower. They said today that other crops that currently are being developed include eggplant, several brassicas, onion, corn, and squash. UniSNP assays for rice and cotton will follow shortly.
The UniSNP assays are developed from broad crop germplasm collections from seed companies worldwide and all of the assays will become commercially available soon, KeyGene and Incotec said.
"The broad and diverse genetic origin of the germplasm that was used makes our assays unique and very descriptive for hybrid purity testing and variety tracing," KeyGene Vice President of Business Development Herco van Liere said in a statement. "This greatly enhances the quality and value of seed lots and enables companies to monitor their seed production process."