Section: Bilateral Contracts and Grants with Industry

Contracts with Industry

SARCO, the research subsidiary of the Laffort group, has entered into a contract with Magnome to develop comparative genomics tools for selecting wine starters. This contract will permit SARCO to take a decisive step in the understanding of oenological microorganisms by obtaining and exploiting the sequences of their genomes. Comparison of the genomes of these strains has become absolutely necessary for learning the genetic origin of the phenotypic variations of oenological yeasts and bacteria. This knowledge will permit SARCO to optimize and accelerate the process of selection of the highest-performing natural strains. With the help of Magnome members and their rich experience in comparative analysis of related genomes, SARCO will acquire competence in biological analysis of genomic sequences. At the same time, Magnome members will acquire further experience with the genomes of winemaking microorganisms, which will help us define new tools and methods better adapted to this kind of industrial cell factory.