Evogene announces joint microbial diversity activity with University of Missouri

Evogene Ltd., a leading biotechnology company for the improvement of crop productivity for the food, feed and fuel industries, today announced it has entered into an agreement with the University of Missouri to collect and sequence soil samples from several university field sites. The soil samples represent previously untapped sources for microbial diversity from one of the primary corn growing regions of the United States. Under the agreement, Evogene will utilize the results as an additional novel source of leads for its microbial data base supporting its Insect Control and Ag-biological product programs.

Activities associated with the collecting and sampling of the soil will be led by Evogene's R&D site in St. Louis and will be performed in several different field sites situated across the state of Missouri. The unique set of research stations includes field sites with diverse range of insects, crops, and environments.

"We are excited to collaborate with Evogene, a leading Israeli biotechnology company focusing on crop improvement," said Dr. Marc Linit, Senior Associate Dean for Research and Extension. "Collaboration with Evogene to discover novel soil-borne microbes will lead to the development of new bio-based insect control and other ag-based biological programs that will benefit farmers in Missouri and elsewhere."

"As we continue to expand our activities in the US, we are very pleased to be joining forces with the University of Missouri in a unique project bringing together world class academic researchers in agricultural science with one of the industry's most advanced computational discovery groups," said Ofer Haviv, Evogene President and CEO. "Tapping into the diversity of University of Missouri's field sites introduces a new source of microbial leads for our already extensive database, allowing us to strengthen the potential novelty of our product offering in the area of insect control and ag-biologicals."