SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
Illumina,
Inc. (NASDAQ: ILMN) today announced that the Donald Danforth Plant
Science Center is the 2016 recipient of the Agricultural Greater Good
Initiative grant. Their project aims to optimize breeding strategies for
improving the yield and stress tolerance of grain sorghum (Sorghum
bicolor), a critical source of nutrition to millions of people
living in Sub-Saharan Africa. The Illumina Agricultural Greater Good
Initiative grant program is designed to help identify measures that can
increase crop yields and improve livestock welfare and productivity to
alleviate poverty and hunger in the developing world.
Todd Mockler, PhD, Geraldine and Robert Virgil Distinguished
Investigator at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center and co-PI
Jeremy Schmutz, at HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology, will study
the genetic diversity of grain sorghum leveraging the HiSeq
X® Ten System at HudsonAlpha. NRGene's proprietary PanMAGICTM
computational platforms will be used to construct the first ever sorghum
pan-genome.
Sorghum is a member of the grass family and is grown worldwide. It is of
particular interest, not only because it is a staple crop in Sub-Saharan
Africa, but because grain sorghum yields have been declining due to the
lack of new varieties that are resistant to pests and pathogens. Sorghum
is very resilient to drought and heat stress. Natural genetic diversity
in sorghum makes it a promising system for identifying stress-resistance
mechanisms in grasses that may have been lost during the domestication
of related cereal crops.
"A comprehensive understanding of the pan-genome sequence of this cereal
crop will enable breeders to design and optimize their breeding
strategies and improve grain sorghum yields," said Dr. Mockler. "I'm
grateful to Illumina for this opportunity to use next-generation
sequencing to improve grain sorghum breeding because it's essential to
improving yields and enhancing food security in the developing world."
"It's a pleasure to work with Dr. Mockler and Illumina to sequence grain
sorghum using the HiSeq X Ten system, constructed at HudsonAlpha by Dr.
Shawn Levy and his team," said Mr. Schmutz. "While the system is
deployed now to identify causal genetic variants in human disease, we
look forward to applying it to optimize plants like sorghum, a critical
crop for the socioeconomic stability and food security of people living
in Sub-Saharan Africa."
"Illumina is committed to unlocking the power of the genome to improve
human health. This program recognizes that there is nothing more
fundamental to human health than nutrition," said Dawn Barry, VP,
Applied Genomics. "We are proud to be supporting Todd Mockler's work at
the Danforth Center and excited to see the HiSeq X Ten System in place
at HudsonAlpha Institute of Biotechnology being used to aid in this
sequencing project. To our knowledge, this is the first time since we
opened the HiSeq X technology to whole-genome sequencing of nonhuman
species that it has been used to benefit a public breeding program."
The Illumina Agricultural Greater Good Initiative grants, launched in
2011, are awarded annually. The program spurs critically needed research
that will increase the sustainability, productivity, and nutritional
density of agriculturally important crop and livestock species. Grant
recipients receive donations of Illumina products to support their
projects. Applications for the 2017 Agricultural Greater Good Initiative
grants will be available in Q3 2016.
For more information about Illumina products for agrigenomics, visit www.illumina.com/agrigenomics.
About Illumina
Illumina is improving human health by unlocking the power of the genome.
Our focus on innovation has established us as the global leader in DNA
sequencing and array-based technologies, serving customers in the
research, clinical and applied markets. Our products are used for
applications in the life sciences, oncology, reproductive health,
agriculture, and other emerging segments. To learn more, visit www.illumina.com
and follow @illumina.
About The Donald Danforth Plant Science Center
Founded in 1998, the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center is a
not-for-profit research institute with a mission to improve the human
condition through plant science. Research, education and outreach aim to
have impact at the nexus of food security and the environment, and
position the St. Louis region as a world center for plant science. The
Center's work is funded through competitive grants from many sources,
including the National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Energy,
National Science Foundation, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
To keep up to date with Danforth Center's current operations and areas
of research, please visit, www.danforthcenter.org,
featuring information on Center scientists,
news, and the "Roots
& Shoots" blog. Follow us on Twitter at @DanforthCenter.
About HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology
HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology is a nonprofit institute
dedicated to innovating in the field of genomic technology and sciences
across the spectrum of biological challenges. Founded in 2008, its
mission is four-fold: sparking scientific discoveries that can impact
human health and well-being; bringing genomic medicine into clinical
care; fostering life sciences entrepreneurship and business growth; and
encouraging the creation of a genomics-literate workforce and society.
The HudsonAlpha biotechnology campus consists of 152 acres nestled
within Cummings Research Park, the nation's second largest research
park. Designed to be a hothouse of biotech economic development,
HudsonAlpha's state-of-the-art facilities co-locate nonprofit scientific
research centers with entrepreneurs and educators. The relationships
formed on the HudsonAlpha campus encourage collaborations that produce
advances in medicine and agriculture. Under the leadership of Dr.
Richard M. Myers, a key collaborator on the Human Genome Project,
HudsonAlpha has become a national and international leader in genetics
and genomics research and biotech education, and includes 32 diverse
biotech companies on campus. To learn more about HudsonAlpha, visit: http://hudsonalpha.org.
Illumina Forward-Looking Statements
This release may contain forward looking statements that involve risks
and uncertainties. Important factors that could cause actual results to
differ materially from those in any forward-looking statements are
detailed in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission,
including our most recent filings on Forms 10-K and 10-Q, or in
information disclosed in public conference calls, the date and time of
which are released beforehand. We do not intend to update any
forward-looking statements after the date of this release.
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