SYSTEMS

The Daniel Carasso Center, Groupe DANONE's Research Center, has entered into a 3-year license for Integrated Genomics' ERGO database and genomic discovery system. Scientists at the Carasso Center in France will use the ERGO system as part of its tools to analyze genomic and microarray data from lactic acid bacteria. The Daniel Carasso Center has a unique collection of 3,000 lactic ferments built up since 1919. Its research teams specialize in microbiology, molecular biology, biochemistry, fermentation biotechnology, immunology, human nutrition, consumer sciences and food design. DANONE is the leading modern brand for yogurts produced on an industrial scale. Optimized for analysis of microorganisms, ERGO integrates biological data from genomics, biochemistry, gene expression studies, genetics and literature. Reaching beyond conventional systems for functional analysis of DNA sequences, Integrated Genomics' platform combines pattern-based analysis with comparative genomics and enables visualization of genes in the contexts of regulation, gene expression data, phylogeny, chromosomal neighborhoods and identification of natural gene fusions. ERGO contains more than 900 genomes at various stages of completion, as well as the largest available collection of networked cellular pathways. "As DANONE is working on probiotics products, ERGO is a great database to help us to find probiotic functions in our strains," said Dr. Sophie Legrain-Raspaud, Team Leader in the Probiotic Gene identification group at the DANONE Research Center in France. In addition to licensing the ERGO software, Integrated Genomics and the Daniel Carasso Center have worked together for several years to sequence and analyze several strains of lactic acid bacteria.