Evogene Ltd. (TASE:EVGN) was up 7.7% on the news of a new contract with Syngenta.
Evogene announced that it has entered into a collaboration agreement with Syngenta Biotechnology Inc. focusing on identifying plant genes related to soybean nematode resistance. Under the agreement, Syngenta will receive exclusive licensing rights to candidate genes discovered by Evogene for use in soybean.
Soybean nematode is a soil parasite, which attacks the roots of developing plants, and is one of the most devastating and yield limiting pests of soybean. Soybean growers may lose more than 20 percent of their yield to this pest, while defenses against it are limited. It is estimated that soybean nematode causes losses in the US alone exceeding one billion dollars annually.
Under the agreement, Evogene will provide Syngenta with candidate genes discovered by Evogene's proprietary computational gene discovery technology, the 'ATHLETE'. Syngenta will evaluate candidate genes in its soybean research and development program. Syngenta may commercialize improved soybean seeds developed through this collaboration.
Evogene's president and CEO Ofer Haviv said, "We are very pleased by this collaboration with Syngenta and we look forward to working with the Syngenta team on this key trait for soybean. Plant pest protection traits, such as nematode resistance, have a strong impact on farm productivity hence Evogene intends to expand use of its predictive technologies for gene discovery in this field."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on June 28, 2009
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