AgroPages-NRGene delivers 80 complete genomes in 12 months-Agricultural news

NRGene, a genomic big data company, has assembled more than 80 complete genomes to a 99% accuracy over the past 12 months – a new genome every 4.5 days on average – for companies like Syngenta, nonprofit research centers like the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and major universities around the world, such as Illinois, California-Davis and Tel Aviv.

DeNovoMAGIC™ technology combines information gleaned from existing plants and seeds with big data analytics to create complete assemblies even of the largest and most complex genomes. Before NRGene’s technology, genome assemblies could take decades and cost many millions of dollars. Assembling heterozygous, diploid, and polyploid genomes now takes only days or weeks.

“Overall, the quality is breathtaking,” says Dr. Nils Stein of Germany’s Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK) and one of the world’s leaders in plant genomics. “NRGene’s results are just amazing and will have a major, major impact.”

NRGene’s technology creates a flood of high-quality, practical and usable data that can be utilized for real-world applications such as using pinpointed trait analysis to deliver better crops.

“DeNovoMAGIC version 2 only came online early in 2015, so we see 80 genomes as just a remarkable beginning,” says NRGene CEO Gil Ronen. “It’s a cliché to discuss how a technology has changed the world, but the data that scientists get from NRGene’s analyses will really have a direct impact on billions of lives.”