Ivogene, a Compuogen subsidiary, and the Faculty of Agriculture of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, signed a cooperation agreement to improve the taste and aroma of tomato crops
Avi Blizovsky
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The biotechnology company Evogene, a subsidiary of Compuogen, a pioneer in the development of biotechnological methods for plant cultivation, and the BonTom company, a research and breeding group of the Faculty of Agriculture of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, announced today that they have entered into a cooperation agreement to develop tomato varieties with improved taste and aroma.
Over the years, as a result of efforts to improve tomato yield, the original flavor and aroma of the tomato have been compromised. Many efforts have been invested in order to improve these properties and to reach the old taste and aroma again, without losing the high productivity, but the success so far has been modest.
The new collaboration will bring together Evogene's capabilities in computational genomics, together with the rich database of tomato lines belonging to BonTom and the genetic know-how of the Cultivation Group of the Faculty of Agriculture.
Evogene will isolate series of genes related to the taste and aroma of the tomato, based on its exclusive genome databases, and these will be used as biological markers in the natural cultivation process that will be carried out by the Faculty of Agriculture. The project partners will use the new markers and knowledge that will be developed as tools to improve the taste and aroma of tomatoes.
Dr. Hagai Korachi, from Ivogene, says: "Access to BonTom's wide database of tomato lines, as well as many years of experience in cultivating tomatoes from the Faculty of Agriculture, is the perfect combination to create rapid value and develop new products using our gene and biomarker database."
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