Annogen starts collaboration with leading agricultural multinational to research non-coding regulatory DNA

Annogen starts a collaboration with another leading agricultural multinational to research non-coding regulatory DNA using SuRE™ screening technology.     

Annogen, the Amsterdam based biotech company behind the SuRE™ technology for the functional annotation of the non-coding part of the genome, started a collaboration with another top agricultural science and technology company to test non-coding DNA fragments that are predicted to influence the expression of important crop traits. The project will focus on genome-wide regulatory profiles under normal and stimulatory conditions. The results are expected to provide possibilities to intentionally upregulate or downregulate the expression of important genes in crops.
 
Agricultural biotech companies are constantly working on ways to up- or down regulate gene expression to influence traits of crops. Annogen’s services and technology contribute to these efforts by identifying the non-coding elements in the genome that underlie gene expression and repression as well as by performing mutagenesis screens on these elements to analyze the impact of non-coding mutations on gene expression.              

While Annogen has its primary focus on medical applications like cell therapy and drug discovery, it has also established the applicability of its SuRE™ technology in animals and plants. Joris van Arensbergen, founder and CEO, is pleased with another project in this field: “We now work with all the top tier agricultural firms, clearly illustrating the broad interest in harnessing the regulatory genome for crop improvement.”