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It is now more than ten years since Mendel was founded; during the past decade, our scientists have developed a world-class technology portfolio based on our detailed understanding of the gene networks that control important plant traits. We focus on new technologies for increasing crop yield and for improving yield stability under environmental stress conditions such as water limitation, nutrient limitation and pathogen pressure. As of 2008, a substantial number of Mendel technologies are in product development in a range of target species including major row crops, ornamentals, forest trees, and biofuel feedstocks.
The first generation of plant biotechnology products was launched in the mid-1990s. These products, and almost all subsequent products to-date, have been based on two relatively simple "single gene" traits: herbicide (e.g., RoundUp) and insect resistance (BT) technology. However, with the sequencing of the first plant genome in the late 1990s, the opportunity arose to use genomics approaches to identify genetic networks that regulate all important aspects of plant biology, and thereby to develop a new generation of products targeting complex traits such as improved yield potential and stress tolerance. Mendel chose to focus on a class of genes encoding products termed "transcription factors" since these proteins were known to act as master regulators of gene networks. Over a period of approximately five years, Mendel scientists identified essentially all of the transcription factor genes from a model plant species (Arabidopsis thaliana) and systematically analyzed the function of each of the encoded proteins by producing experimental plants that had increased or decreased amounts of the target protein. The resulting plants were subjected to a wide range of assays that included measurements of overall morphology, abiotic stress tolerance, disease resistance, and metabolic composition. These initial efforts resulted in our making a large number of novel discoveries about the function of key transcription factors and the genetic networks that they regulate.
Many of our early inventions are now being applied in target crop species by Mendel and our corporate partners; we are confident that a significant number of these next generation products will be commercialized during the forthcoming decade. Nonetheless, although we have an exceptionally rich technology portfolio already, we are committed to remaining a leading innovator of new trait technology into the longer term future. As such, we are making significant investments towards developing novel systems biology approaches for high resolution modeling of plant gene networks. Through these efforts, we anticipate that we will identify optimum combinations of technologies and traits which will together enable the challenging gains in crop productivity that are needed to meet the demands of society over the next half century.
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