Wageningen, The netherlands
May 4, 2011

KeyGene announces today that it has completed another important step towards the realization of Sequence Based Breeding in vegetable and field crops by strengthening its strategic patent position.

The company’s innovative business strategy is based on the expectation that next-generation sequencing (NGS) technologies will greatly improve molecular plant breeding by enabling direct detection of genomic variation using sequence based detection platforms.

As part of this strategy, KeyGene has substantially invested in the development of proprietary applications for NGS platforms in plants, including its Whole Genome Profiling (WGP), sequence based genotyping and mutation detection strategies, for which patents were recently granted in Europe.

KeyGene’s position has now been further strengthened by the grant of US patent 7,935,488 on a method for amplification of restriction fragments, which contributes significantly to the development of a strong, proprietary technology platform for use in Life Sciences.

KeyGene has great confidence in the value of its intellectual property estate and is dedicated to secure its interests. Widespread adoption of applications in the seed market via products and licenses accelerates Sequence Based Breeding in crops to be adapted for the needs of the future.

KeyGene is a privately owned, innovative molecular genetics Ag Biotech company with a primary focus on the improvement of 6F (Food, Feed, Fiber, Fuel, Flowers and Fun) crops. KeyGene’s passion is a Green Gene Revolution approach to explore and exploit existing and induced natural genetic variation in vegetable and other 6F crops. KeyGene delivers sustainable responses to the world’s needs for yield stability & quality of vegetable and field crops.
We help our strategic partners with cutting edge breeding technologies and plant based trait platforms to meet their needs. We perform strategic and applied research with more than 135 employees from all over the world, with state of the art facilities and equipment. KeyGene has its headquarters in Wageningen, the Netherlands, a subsidiary in Rockville, USA and a Joint Lab with the Shanghai Institute of Biological Sciences in Shanghai, China.

Website: http://www.keygene.com

Published: May 4, 2011