LGC and the Integrated Breeding Platform Expand Co-Operation to Accelerate Marker-Assisted Selection

LGC and the Integrated Breeding Platform (IBP) expand their partnership, using LGC’s proprietary technologies to accelerate crop breeding for registered users of the IBP. This expanded agreement builds on the achievements made by the IBP’s predecessor, the Generation Challenge Programme (GCP).

In 2009, the GCP selected LGC as its preferred genotyping outsourcing service provider. Since that date LGC has provided over 22 million genotyping data points, using KASPTM and SNPLineTM technology, enabling GCP plant breeders to identify and select drought- and disease- tolerant crop varieties, tailored to their individual environments. Furthermore, as a result of designing more than 17,000 KASP assays for researchers and plant breeders, spanning 21 countries, LGC has generated and validated 12 KASP marker panels.

This new multi-year agreement allows registered users of the IBP to access the complete range of world leading Genomic services, powered by LGC’s KASP and SNPLine genotyping technology, for accelerated plant breeding.

Marcus Wills, Commercial Director, Genomics, LGC, explains, “We are excited to be working with the IBP to help plant breeders accelerate the creation and delivery of new crop varieties to help cope with an increasing global demand for food. This extension to our successful partnership not only enhances LGC’s leading position as the premium supplier of choice to the private and publically funded AgBio sectors, but also enables registered users of the IBP to make their next plant breeding discovery, more quickly and more cost effectively with confidence. In keeping with LGC’s vision of ‘science for a safer world’ this partnership covers design, development and validation of KASP genotyping assays which support plant genomics and breeding of critically important crops.”

Jean-Marcel Ribaut, IBP Director, agrees, “At the IBP, we aim at gearing plant breeders with the tools, services and knowledge resources that they need to conduct their routine activities as efficiently as possible. At the rate at which genotyping technology is evolving, large-scale work is best served by outsourcing to competent laboratories. Our renewed partnership with LGC solidifies this core offer by letting breeders access to LGC’s best practices and technologies directly from our web portal at preferential prices.”

LGC has also recently announced the release of its Plant Sample Collection KitTM as part of the extended partnership with IBP. Due to the global expansion of plant breeders looking to access molecular tools for accelerated plant breeding, robust plant sampling processes are critical to ensuring high quality DNA can be collected, shipped and extracted to provide consistently high quality DNA for improved genotyping. LGC’s Plant Sample Collection Kit provides a practical

and simple solution to ensure high quality DNA is consistently achieved and genotyped for improved data scoring.

LGC’s world-class and proprietary nucleic acid extraction technology - such as oKtopureTM and GenespinTM extraction platforms, and Sbeadex™ and Kleargene spin TM extraction chemistries -provides DNA extraction services to meet the demands of any plant breeding project. Due to these proprietary technologies, and with over 20 years of experience resulting in extracting more than 10 million samples, LGC has developed proven high quality, low cost extraction protocols to deliver world leading outsourced genomics services.

The IBP wants to contribute to finding faster solutions to ever growing food security challenges. It does so by facilitating the integration of better breeding practices and management processes by breeding programmes across world regions, so that they may increase agricultural productivity and the livelihoods of smallholder farmers everywhere.