Bioinformatics, the development and utilization of software tools to understand increasing amounts of biological data, continues to impact plant breeding. With lower costs for DNA sequencing and related technologies plus more advances in bioinformatics, more breeders and seed companies are using bioinformatics in their breeding programs. The objective is to reduce the time, space and expense of conventional plant breeding programs to develop new hybrids and cultivars. This includes the utilization of molecular markers for important traits, robust algorithms to analyze the SNP (single nucleotide polymorphism) data and a growing understanding of gene expression in a crop’s genome. Bioinformatics Consulting now available.
In response to the industry changes and the requests of plant breeders, Genovix now offers a bioinformatics module. This module offers a seamless data connection between a breeder’s data in Genovix and the SNP data related to the chosen genotypes. The final results are then directly updated in the Genovix database. Parallel processing is utilized with large datasets. Thus, there is no need to export data, run another software package and import the results into Genovix – all of which takes time and effort. The module includes genomic prediction, a powerful analysis to assist the breeder in making selections and advancing breeding lines while saving time and cost. This tool in Genovix does the pre-processing of nucleotide data, allows user thresholds and checks for genetic distortion, among other capabilities. We also offer consulting in bioinformatics, typically for smaller seed companies that do not have the budget to hire data scientists and related overhead, but still want to benefit from this technology to remain competitive.