The BiosearchTech Blog

“In July of 2015, I was a member of the radish genome project team. My task was to examine genetic diversity of radish cultivars. Although we did find tons of SNP information from genome sequence data, we didn’t have a cost-effective method for custom SNP genotyping. So I had to design Indel markers and applied them to radish accessions. While I was preparing PCR reactions of thirty 96-well plates, I felt that it’s too ironic to do this sluggish work in the era of NGS and genome. It compelled me to take this picture of the experiment. The PCR reactions and gel electrophoresis took more than two weeks. It was quite laborious work. Even after the job was done, the stark reality of using labor-intensive methods never left my mind, which is what probably led me to my current job.”

Read More

Darshna "Dusty" Vyas has been a Senior Scientist at LGC specialising in plant genetics for the past 8 years Her contributions on the team have enabled the translation of LGC, Biosearch Technologies to the global plant breeding community in all species ranging across diverse sample types including wheat, cocoa, rubber, rice and aquaculture. Dusty's desire to understand our customers’ requirements and develop innovative products and services at Biosearch Technologies to improve global crop development isn't just a professional objective, but a personal one. 

Read More

Brassica  rapa crops are important sources of food, feed, and fuel in many parts of the world and provide a unique opportunity for investigating plant genome evolution. In 2018, the Food and Agricultural Organization reported a global production of cabbages and other brassicas to be more than 103 million tonnes.¹ Disease and environmental stress can reduce crop yield and quality, so plant breeders are using genome-wide molecular markers like SNPs to make a background selection and identify target genes involved in high nutritional quality, disease resistance and yield in order to speed up the breeding process in Brassica rapa crops. 

Read More

“Experience of artificial fertilisation, such as is effected with ornamental plants in order to obtain new variations in colour, has led to the experiments which will here be discussed. The striking regularity with which the same hybrid forms always reappeared whenever fertilization took place between the same species induced further experiments to be undertaken.”¹

Read More

Diversity is the spice of life and is also key to breeding rice that delivers increased yields. Rice is a crucial staple food for about half a billion people in Asia, but it suffers from diseases that reduce yields, destroy harvests and put food security and livelihoods at risk. But there is hope - by tracking DNA markers of natural genetic variants through generations of crosses, breeders can identify better combinations that enrich crop vitality and resilience leading to more reliable and sustainable rice production.

Read More

Wheat is one of the three most important crops for human and livestock feed. With an ever-increasing global population, the pressure is on to increase cereal crop production as a solution to feed the world. It has been estimated that by 2030 demand on cereal production will increase by 50%. This means it is essential that scientists and breeders alike strive to maximise its growing potential.

Satisfying the growing global demand for wheat is thrown into difficulties by the crop's vulnerability to pests and disease. To combat these issues, scientists and wheat breeders are working to develop crops with improved key traits including: Read More

Our world population is growing at a tremendous rate and by 2050, Africa’s population alone is set to hit over 2.5 billion. This puts unprecedented pressure on our food supply chains. Fortunately there are projects such as the African Orphan Crops Consortium (AOCC) that are looking to help seed breeders deliver improved crops to the continent.

Read More

 

Demand for maize is increasing due to an increased number of people transitioning to meat-based diets driving demand for animal feed. Drought has been identified as the number one factor in impacting maize yields in the region. Over 80% of maize grown in tropical Asia is rainfed, leaving the 19 million hectares of maize subject to stress caused by variations in monsoon rains. As such, maize is a good point of reference when thinking about the importance of production of drought-tolerant crops (Zaidi, et al., 2016).

Read More