Evogene, Zeraim Gedera to develop salt tolerant tomato

The world's major growing areas are affected by increased soil salinity, and require tomato lines that can withstand these conditions.

Plant biotechnology company Evogene and seed company Zeraim Gedera today announced a collaborative agreement for the joint development and commercialization of salt tolerant tomato rootstocks and seed varieties.

The collaboration includes the joint development by the partners of tomato lines tolerant to high salinity levels. Zeraim Gedera maintains a very strong IP position in tomato developments.

The companies noted that the leading tomato growing areas in the world such as California and the Mediterranean area rely heavily on irrigation. Due to massive irrigation practice and the use of water sources with increasing salinity levels, many of these major growing areas are becoming affected by accumulated soil salinity, which requires the development of tomato lines with good performance in these conditions.

The project will make use of tomato genetic material pre-selected by Evogene through its high throughput system, which enables the selection of plants highly tolerant to salinity. The partners will jointly develop high salinity tolerant tomato lines with the required commercial performance. The partners will also use Evogene's genomic marker discovery using its computational genomics capabilities to track the salinity performance of the developed products.

Zeraim Gedera will be responsible for the breeding of the varieties and rootstocks by contributing its existing commercial tomato germplasm and implementing its extensive breeding experience. Zeraim Gedera will also take care of producing the seed and marketing the developed tomato varieties in the target markets.

Initiated in 1999 as a division of Compugen (Nasdaq:CGEN; TASE:CGEN), Evogene was established as a separate company in 2002 by Compugen and founders Drs. Hagai Karchi and Rafi Meissner. Evogene's current research efforts are focused in three areas: key trait improvements in cotton; gene discovery for abiotic stress tolerance and plant nutrient uptake; and a proprietary platform for the production of therapeutic proteins in plants.

Zeraim Gedera was established in 1952. The company's breeding programs are aimed at developing fruit qualities attractive to consumers such as specific visual traits, long shelf life, superior taste and nutritional values together with traits important to the growers such as high yield and resistance to various diseases and pests. The company does not breed transgenic varieties.

Published by Globes [online] - www.globes.co.il - on Monday, September 20, 2004

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