Wageningen, September 24, 2013

KeyGene and Donald Danforth Plant Science Center collaborate to strengthen plant phenotyping activities
Today KeyGene and The Donald Danforth Plant Science Center announce a collaboration to strengthen the plant imaging capabilities at the newly built, one-of-a-kind Bellwether Phenotyping Facility at the Danforth Center in St. Louis, MO, USA. This technology increases the pace of scientific discovery, as well as applications that impact agricultural productivity. Accurate phenotyping is difficult to perform due to high subjectivity. This is often the bottleneck for translation of genetic research findings into breeding practices where selection of traits like yield is based on phenotypes of the crops. This collaboration will not only strengthen the position of the phenotyping facilities of the Danford Center but will also open more opportunities to collaborate on interesting research projects, says Arjen van Tunen, CEO of KeyGene. "This collaboration between the Danforth Center and KeyGene will be critical to bringing our new phenotyping facility into full production mode quickly. KeyGene has vast expertise and analytical tools that our scientists will be using to get the most value out of their high-throughput experiments using both model plants and crops", said Danforth Center President, Jim Carrington, Ph.D. The system combines a temperature and light-controlled plant growth environment with a conveyer system to move plants through three instrument chambers. Real-time measurements of plant growth, photosynthetic ability and water content are captured using three-dimensional imaging techniques. The Danford Center collaborated with Conviron and LemnaTec to design and build the Bellwether Phenotyping Facility, which allows non-destructive analysis of up to 1140 small to medium sized plants at multiple points over a desired growth period. KeyGene and the Danforth Center will work closely together for one year to get the phenotyping system implemented, based on lessons learned during the execution of phenotyping abiotic stress experiments in the Netherlands. The resulting datasets utilizing the phenotyping system will be used to apply for grant funding for joint research projects.
About KeyGene KeyGene is a privately owned, innovative molecular genetics Ag Biotech company with a primary focus on the improvement of 6F (Food, Feed, Fiber, Fuel, Flowers and Fun) crops. KeyGenes passion is a Gree n Gene Revolution approach to explore and exploit natural genetic variation in vegetable and other 6F crops. KeyGene delivers sustainable responses to the worlds needs for yield stability & quality of vegetable and field crops. It supports its strategic partners with cutting edge breeding technologies and plant-based trait platforms to meet their needs. KeyGene performs strategic and applied research with more than 135 employees from all over the world, with state of the art facilities and equipment. KeyGene has its headquarters in Wageningen, The Netherlands, a subsidiary in Rockville, USA and a Joint Lab with the Shanghai Institute of Biological Sciences in Shanghai, China. About Donald Danforth Center Founded in 1998, the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center is a not-for-profit research institute with a mission to improve the human condition through plant science. Research at the Danforth Center will feed the hungry and improve human health, preserve and renew the environment, and enhance the St. Louis region and Missouri as a

world center for plant science. The Centers work is funded through competitive grants and contract revenue from many sources, including the National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Energy, National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Agency for International Development, the Bill & Melinda Gates and Howard G. Buffett Foundations.

For more information please contact: KeyGene Jenny Peters, tel. +31 317 466 866 jpt@keygene.com; www.keygene.com Donald Danforth Plant Science Center Karla Roeber, tel. 314 587-1231 kroeber@danforthcenter.org www.danforthcenter.org