KeyGene strengthens its patent portfolio on whole genome profiling

KeyGene® is pleased to announce that on May 15, 2012, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) issued patent US 8,178,300 entitled “Method for the identification of the clonal source of a restriction fragment”, covering its WGP^TM technology. Herewith, KeyGene has completed another important step towards realization of Sequence Based Breeding in crops and strengthened its strategic patent position. KeyGene’s business strategy is based on deployment of innovative technologies to significantly improve and accelerate molecular plant breeding.

WGP is part of KeyGene’s suite of proprietary applications for next-generation sequencing (NGS) platforms in plants which enables de novo construction of sequence-based physical maps. WGP maps serve as framework to assemble whole genomes with superior scaffolding metrics, while providing access to cloned genome segments. The grant of this US patent confirms the innovative concept of WGP, which the company has applied to construction of physical maps of over 30 crops already for its customers worldwide. In all these crops, including Brassica napus, wheat, sunflower, cotton, tomato, potato and many others, consistent results were obtained irrespective of genome size and ploidy level, emphasizing the robustness and versatility of the technology. The use of superior quality WGP genome assemblies has led to the rapid identification and use of gene sequences for the genetic improvement of traits such as color, drought tolerance and fungal resistances in field, industrial and vegetable crops. Many more applications are expected and in the pipelines of our partners and customers.

Mark van Haaren, Vice President Business Development North and South America comments: “The grant of this valuable patent in our growing NGS portfolio helps us to meet our customers’ needs to work with highly accurate genome assemblies. These assemblies allow breeders and scientists to link genetic information to physical genome positions and rapidly overcome breeding and scientific hurdles and to generate new commercial varieties. For many species, integrated physical maps and sequence-based assemblies are still lacking and WGP contributes significantly to fill this gap.”