heit zusammen mit -ich glaube -Bayer. RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. (CBS.MW) -- Paradigm Genetics said it’s altered the genes of two fungi that cause damage in rice and wheat crops, which could eventually lead to better products to protect them.
The company said it’s “knocked out” the genes of Magnaporthe grisea, or rice blast fungus, which significantly damages rice crops worldwide. Paradigm (PDGM: news, msgs) also said it completed alterations in 70 percent of the genes of the pathogen Septoria tritici, which causes serious damage in wheat.
Understanding the genes’ role may aid the development of targeted and environmentally friendly fungicides for the two major food crops, the company said.
Pacific Equities analyst Tom Dietz said that crop damage costs hundreds of millions of dollars in the U.S. and Europe each year. Greater understanding of gene function could lead to safer, more effective alternatives to what he called the “spray-and-pray” fungicides currently in use.
Shares of Paradigm rose 1/4 to 14 1/16 in recent trading.
“In the post-gene-sequencing era, efficiently determining gene function will be crucial to developing improved products,” John Ryals, Paradigm’s chief executive officer, said in a statement.
The role that genes play in health and disease has been an area of intense focus recently. On Monday, scientists unveiled a blueprint of a complete set of human genetic material. Researchers expect that a comparison of the genomes of a mouse, fruit fly, human and other model organisms, such as yeast, will open many new avenues of research that will lead to a greater apprehension of disease.
North Carolina-based Paradigm assesses the function of specific genes, primarily for agricultural purposes. It studies gene function in four major sectors of the global economy: nutrition, crop production industrial products and human health. The company’s GeneFunction Factory uses an assembly-line approach to determining gene function, while its FunctionFinder database is a repository for such discoveries.
Paradigm’s revenue sources include an agreement with Bayer to develop herbicides and a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy.
The company said the global market for crop protection fungicides is an estimated $6 billion.
--------------------------------------------------
Stephanie O'Brien is a reporter for CBS.MarketWatch.com.
Was die Windmühlen angeht,müsste hier ja wohl Plambeck erwähnt werden,aber als alter Naturschützer halte ich von den die Landschaft verschandelnden und nur auf Grund der Subventionen von den Landwirten gern auf ihren Grundstücken geduldeten Anlagen gar nicht viel.So effektiv sind sie ja nun auch nicht,dass man damit mehr als 5% einsparen könnte.Und Plambeck dümpelt im Übrigen so vor sich hin....
