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Mapping Molecular Markers: The Key to Delivering New Products Quicker
The world-leader in the fruit and vegetable seed industry is entering a new era. Under the ownership of Monsanto, Seminis will have an unparalleled opportunity to provide new value to its customers. One of the most exciting new developments is the use of molecular markers in traditional breeding.
A key future strategy for Seminis and Monsanto, molecular markers are a gene or segment of DNA used to tag a specific trait. Marker assisted breeding uses this technology to accelerate the creation of varieties with favorable characteristics by bringing them to the market in half the time of other methods.
"We hope to help breeders produce crops with improved yield across a wide range of environments, better seed quality and improved disease packages," says Pablo Quijada, Seminis new trait development scientist. "Markers will help us to do this quicker."
With markers, breeders can create a very detailed map of the plant to identify what key traits they want to breed for. Markers are particularly important for one of the biggest growers needsâ€â€disease resistance. Using markers, Seminis research has developed disease resistant products, including tomatoes with disease protection against tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV).
As a result of its acquisition by Monsanto, Seminis has purchased new, computerized equipment that will accelerate molecular marker research. The new equipment is located at Seminis' research headquarters in Woodland, Calif. The new marker technology will increase the capacity and accuracy of the marker selection process. For now, Seminis is focusing its efforts on mapping molecular markers in tomato, pepper, melon and sweet corn for immediate use in the breeding program.
With dedicated investment in new technologies Seminis will continue its commitment to innovation in a new era of possibilities.
