b'PARTNER CONTENTSaving Breeders Time and MoneyIf breeders are like astronomers, then Dr. Mark Massoudi has a roadmap to the stars that can help them be successful beyond their wildest expectations.F or Dr. Mark Massoudi, plant breeders are like astronomers peering off into the universe with telescopes that are in-creasingly becoming more and more sophisticated.When Galileo used his first telescope, I guarantee what he saw was quite fuzzy. Now we can look billions of light years away with great precision. Science is as good as what we know today. We be-come more precise as we discover more, says Massoudi, president of the California-based Ag-Biotech.And if plant breeders are modern-day Galileos looking off into the genetic universe of plants, hes the man showing them where in that vast universe the most significant discoveries can be found.Ag-Biotech provides breeders with state-of-the-art marker-assist-ed selection services. After three decades in the industry, Massoudi and Ag-Biotech have amassed a wide collection of breeders essen-tial trait-linked markers that act as a sort of roadmap to the genetic galaxy of plants. Having access to such services levels the playing field for breeders who lack the in-house resources of the larger play-ers by providing them with marker-assisted selection services.Breeders use Ag-Biotechs services to expedite varietal develop-ment. In the Golden Age of plant breedingbefore people like Massoudi had the collection of important breeder marker tools of plants and pinpointed specific genes (referred to as markers)a breeder would have to transplant every seedling into the field, wait for it to grow, and then analyze each resulting plant for cer-tain characteristics. This is just plain costly, labor-intensive and time-consuming. Dr. Mark Massoudi is president of Californias Ag-Biotech.DNA-based selection will eliminate any environmental factors and influences. Now, you can simply give your germplasm, in theAg-Biotech has a full DNA marker list in bean, cucurbit, pea, form of a small leaf tissue, to Massoudi, who analyzes its geneticlettuce, onion, tomato, and many other crops.makeup and can identify which plants have the specific genes thatServices include marker-assisted selection, DNA marker-will endow the plant with the desired characteristicsbe it diseaseassisted backcrossing, DNA fingerprinting, custom DNA marker resistance, agronomic qualities, abiotic stress levels, and more. development, hybrid and trait-purity analysis, genetic map con-Imagine the time and resources needed to transplant each andstruction, DNA extraction and purification, and biotechnology every seedling in the field. For pennies on the dollar, we do the pre- consulting.screening for you. Instead of having to put 1,000 plants in the field,Massoudi and his staff are willing to take on any science it can be narrowed down to a quarter of that many, Massoudi says. project that comes their waysomething he says helps him learn This not only saves the breeder time, but also money. more every day. Those are the two most precious resources for a breeder,We dont know what kind of calls we will get. No matter how especially vegetable breeders. We have anchored our expertise inbig or small the client, the information we provide is so important vegetable crops. One reason vegetable breeders come to us is weto them. The bottom line of any successful operation is saving have a long array of gene-based DNA markers for different crops.them time and money so the breeder can concentrate on the task Our list is long and elaborate and still growing. We have validatedat hand.just about all those markers in many available germplasms. For more information visit agbiotech.net.34/ SEEDWORLD.COMFEBRUARY 2020'