Laboratorytalk brought news of Agilent's Magnaporthe grisea kit last week; further details have now been revealed on microarray carrying genetic probes from rice and rice blast fungus
On 22 May, Agilent Technologies introduced the first microarray for the study of rice blast disease and rice.
The new microarray joins Agilent's recently updated Arabidopsis microarray kit as part of the company's expanding AgBiotech programme.
The unique design of this microarray enables agricultural and biotech researchers to examine the molecular basis of plant disease and the host-pathogen interactions between plants and fungi.
The Agilent Magnaporthe grisea oligo microarray kit (G4137A) has a novel design that includes, on one microarray, genetic probes from two genomes: rice blast (Magnaporthe grisea), and rice.
Rice blast is a filamentous fungus responsible for rice blast disease, which destroys enough rice to feed 60 million people each year. The 60-mer oligonucleotide Magnaporthe/rice microarray has more than 20,000 features, including the whole Magnaporthe grisea genome of more than 13,500 genes and more than 7000 rice genes. These rice genes were isolated from both infected and uninfected rice plants and are associated with either rice blast disease susceptibility or plant response to the disease.
The new microarray was designed using Magnaporthe gene sequence and annotation information developed by North Carolina State University (NCSU) in collaboration with MIT's Whitehead Institute.
Rice gene ESTs were obtained from the University of Arizona using rice tissues grown at Ohio State University. "Rice blast and rice together constitute a model system for studying fungal infection in plants," said Ralph Dean, professor of Plant Pathology and director of the Fungal Genomics Laboratory at NCSU.
"By having two genomes on one microarray, we will be able to study host-pathogen interactions between plants and fungi in a way that was never before possible. We are already developing original methodologies using this integrated approach in order to more precisely model the disease process with the hope that this will lead to more effective and environmentally sound disease management strategies." "Not only is this the first commercial microarray for the study of Magnaporthe grisea, but it is also the first commercial microarray for the study of rice, one of the most significant crops worldwide," said Barney Saunders, general manager and vice president of Agilent BioResearch Solutions unit.
"This microarray joins a newly updated Arabidopsis microarray as a significant step in our expanding AgBiotech program.
We believe this new microarray will be a powerful tool for agricultural researchers worldwide." In addition to the Magnaporthe grisea/rice microarray, Agilent is introducing the Agilent Arabidopsis 2.0 Oligo Microarray Kit (G4136A), updated to include broader genome coverage.
The number of gene probes has been increased from 14,000 to more than 21,000 genes, which means that the Arabidopsis genes recognized as biologically important are now contained in a single, 60-mer oligonucleotide formatted, microarray.
These new microarrays for plant research will be launched in Europe at the 7th International Congress of Plant Molecular Biology - ISPMB 2003, to be held in Barcelona from 23 to 28 June 2003.
