Within the Genome Insights platform cutting edge technologies are developed and applied that deliver a strong genomic and genetic understanding of your crop of interest.
This enables molecular breeding, trait discovery and precision breeding.
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KeyGene was one of the first organizations in Europe who invested significantly in Next Generation Sequencing equipment. KeyGene has developed state-of-the-art expertise and a series of proprietary applications to enable high throughput sequence-based breeding. KeyGene is certified as first PromethION service provider. More information can be found in the press release: KeyGene Revolutionizes Crop Innovation Using Nanopore Technology.
A critical component of successful long read sequencing is working with high purity, ultra-high molecular weight (uHMW) DNA. Preparing this material is particularly challenging in plants, due to the cell wall and the presence of diverse factors such as secondary metabolites, pigments, polysaccharides, etc. This means that there is no generic protocol that can be used. KeyGene has considerable experience and expertise in isolating uHMW DNA from a range of different plant species, resulting in high quality sequencing results.
Sequence-based Genotyping
How can I identify molecular markers for my breeding program without any prior genome or sequence information? Are there marker types which can directly be linked to the genome sequence of my crop ? These and others questions from breeders and crop researchers can be answered by the genotyping technology developed by KeyGene: Sequence-based Genotyping (SBG). The applications are numerous.
The Sequence-based Genotyping technology is powerful by its simplicity. One experiment in which simultaneously SNP discovery and genotyping is performed. Within four steps from DNA to SNPs: (1) genome complexity reduction by digestion of the DNA, (2) ligation of adapters containing a sample-ID followed by amplification, (3) pooling of the samples and sequencing and (4) mining of the data for polymorphisms.
Some applications of this genotyping technology are: co- dominant SNP genotyping, genetic diversity analysis, genetic mapping, discovery of (rare) SNP variants and genome wide association mapping. The technology is offered in contract research projects, as license opportunity and as a kit for DNA template preparation. More information about licensing opportunities can be found here.
KeyGene® SNPSelect
The KeyGene® SNPSelect technology allows genotyping any number of SNPs, in any number of samples with fast turn-around time. SNP genotyping is, and will remain a very useful tool for molecular breeding. For many purposes, such as association studies, marker- assisted backcrossing and validation of large numbers of novel SNPs, highly multiplexed genotyping assays are desired. However most of the currently available assay types have limited flexibility and relatively long production cycles. KeyGene® SNPSelect offers ultimate flexibility in number of SNPs and samples and adding and removing SNPs from existing assays. Furthermore data is delivered within fast turn-around time against highly competitive prices. KeyGene® SNPSelect is already successfully applied in crops with genome sizes ranging from 300 – 5000 Mb and in various population types such as germplasm, F2, RILs and back cross populations. The possibilities are numerous.