Tutti frutti for Kiwis
Tuesday, 29 July, 2008
NZ biotech Genesis Research and Development (NZSX/ASX: GEN) and fruit science company HortResearch have published details of 130,000 expressed sequence tags (ESTs) for kiwifruit.
The data is the world's most extensive collection of kiwifruit DNA sequences and is published today in the journal BMC Genomics.
The ESTs - short DNA sequences that can be used to identify gene expression - will be used to speed up development of new kiwifruit varieties based on desirable fruit traits.
The most common cultivars are the green-fleshed Hayward and a yellow-fleshed variety called Hort16A, developed by HortResearch and marketed by Zespri.
HortResearch and Genesis released a similar number of apple ESTs two years ago, part of HortResearch's apple and pear breeding program.
Genesis has a large agbiotech patent portfolio and is also developing human health therapeutics, some based on RNAi.
Organoid platform enables closer study of bat-borne viruses
Reconstructing bat organ physiology in the lab lets scientists explore how zoonotic viruses work...
Global study finds 250 genes linked to OCD
Researchers say they have found the genes linked to obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), after...
TGA approves therapy for paediatric growth hormone deficiency
The TGA has approved SKYTROFA as a treatment for growth failure in children and adolescents aged...
