Illumina, NRGene Collaborate to Accelerate Development of New Molecular Breeding Tools for Cattle to Support Global Food Prod...
January 12 2017 - 7:00AM
Business Wire
Companies Complete High Quality Assembly of
Nellore Cattle Genome in Conjunction with Universidade Estadual
Paulista
Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ: ILMN), the global leader in
next-generation sequencing technology, and NRGene, a globally
recognized leader in genome assembly and analysis, today announced
a collaboration to develop new molecular breeding tools for cattle.
As a first step, the companies also announced the completion of a
high quality genome assembly of the Nellore cattle in conjunction
with researchers at the Universidade Estadual Paulista in
Brazil.
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The companies will work together to sequence and assemble
additional cattle individuals from different breeds to accelerate
knowledge of genetic variation across all cattle breeds. This
information will aid in the development of new commercial tools
that can be used for genomic selection and other genomic
technologies in cattle, helping to accelerate breeding programs to
enhance global food (meat and milk) production efforts.
“We look forward to this next phase of our strategic
collaboration with NRGene to accelerate global cattle breeding
efforts through additional sequencing studies and, ultimately, the
commercialization of improved genomic selection tools,” said Rob
Brainin, Vice President and General Manager, Applied Genomics for
Illumina. “Our greatly expanding understanding of the bovine genome
will support numerous breeding programs worldwide, helping to
improve production and consumer traits as well as to address global
demand for safe, nutritious, healthy protein products.”
Nellore (bos indicus) is the most dominant zebu beef cattle
breed for food production in the tropical regions of the world. The
sequencing and assembly of its genome was completed using Illumina
next-generation sequence data and NRGene’s cloud-based
DeNovoMAGICTM 3.0 assembly software package. As more cattle genomes
are generated, NRGene’s PanMAGICTM will be used to compare the
complete genome sequences of multiple individual samples to capture
the broad genomic diversity. This information will be used to
design more efficient genotyping tools to support cattle breeding
programs.
“Using technology from Illumina and NRGene has enabled us to
develop an accurate assembly of a heterozygote genome for Nellore
cattle in just two months,” said Jose Fernando Garcia, Professor,
Universidade Estadual Paulista. “We believe this reference genome
will help Brazilian cattle breeders to dramatically improve local
beef production and, more importantly, will provide insights about
Nellore reproduction (fertility) and meat quality that can be used
to add value to worldwide production.”
The combination of NRGene’s and Illumina’s technologies has
already been used for other agriculture projects to decode some of
the most complex genomes including the hexaploid bread wheat,
tetraploid heterozygote mango, octoploid heterozygote strawberry,
along with dozens of new maize, soybean, cotton, and canola
genomes.
“This bovine assembly further reveals the diversity in cattle
via our expanding capabilities to deliver new tools for genotyping
and breeding,” says Gil Ronen, CEO of NRGene. “The ultimate value
in our technology is that it can be deployed to analyze and
accelerate breeding across any agricultural species: crops, farm
animals, and aquaculture.”
About Illumina
Illumina is improving human health by unlocking the power
of the genome. Our focus on innovation has established us as the
global leader in DNA sequencing and array-based technologies,
serving customers in the research, clinical and applied markets.
Our products are used for applications in the life sciences,
oncology, reproductive health, agriculture, and other emerging
segments. To learn more, visit www.illumina.com and
follow @illumina.
About NRGene
NRGene is a genomic big data company developing cutting-edge
software and algorithms to reveal the complexity and diversity of
crop plants, animals, and aquatic organisms for supporting the most
advanced and sophisticated breeding programs. NRGene tools have
already been employed by some of the leading seed companies
worldwide as well as the most influential research teams in
academia. www.nrgene.com.
Illumina Forward-Looking Statements
This release contains forward-looking statements that involve
risks and uncertainties, such as Illumina’s expectations regarding
the launch of any products. Among the important factors that could
cause actual results to differ materially from those in any
forward-looking statements are (i) our ability to further develop
and commercialize our instruments and consumables and to deploy new
products, services, and applications, and expand the markets, for
our technology platforms; (ii) our ability to manufacture robust
instrumentation and consumables; (iii) achievement and timing of
the planned deconsolidation of GRAIL, Inc.’s financial results in
our financial statements; (iv) our ability to successfully identify
and integrate acquired technologies, products, or businesses; (v)
our expectations and beliefs regarding future conduct and growth of
the business and the markets in which we operate; (vi) challenges
inherent in developing, manufacturing, and launching new products
and services; and (vii) the application of generally accepted
accounting principles, which are highly complex and involve many
subjective assumptions, estimates, and judgments, together with
other factors detailed in our filings with the Securities and
Exchange Commission, including our most recent filings on Forms
10-K and 10-Q, or in information disclosed in public conference
calls, the date and time of which are released beforehand. We
undertake no obligation, and do not intend, to update these
forward-looking statements, to review or confirm analysts’
expectations, or to provide interim reports or updates on the
progress of the current quarter.
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Illumina, Inc.Investors:Rebecca
Chambers858-255-5243rchambers@illumina.comorMedia:Gwen
Gordon858-882-6822pr@illumina.comorNRGeneK2 Global
CommunicationsAmy Kenigsberg+1-913-440-4072 (+7 ET)+972-9-794-1681
(+2 GMT)amy@k2-gc.com
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