Kannapedia 2.0 enables crop innovation for the cannabis and hemp industry. The platform contains an ever-expanding genetic library that aims to shave years off the traditional crop breeding process to improve product quality and long-term sustainability of the industry.
“Kannapedia unlocks the value of our genomic services. The insights garnered from utilizing our vast array of sequencing and genotyping services in conjunction with Kannapedia will drive crop innovation” said Mike Catalano, MGC’s Head of Genomic Services. “Now, Kannapedia makes it easier than ever for customers to discover genetic targets by identifying high-impact variants in genes of interest. It will also serve as a powerful research tool for enabling more discoveries of quantitative traits and expanding the diversity of Cannabis cultivars assessed in genetic prediction. It’s the state of the art in cannabis genomics.”
Kannapedia 2.0 will help interpret genes impacting flowering, Edestin synthesis, disease and pathogen resistance, as well as cannabinoid, terpenoid and CannFlavin synthesis. Like its predecessor, Kannapedia 2.0 is publicly available, but now features the genomes of more than 1,400 unique, registered cannabis strains.
The upgraded platform utilizes proprietary bioinformatics software that interprets and compares complex plant genetics, and offers new features to improve usability and data mining functionality, including:
- Real-Time Data Mining Capabilities to provide better search, sort, and filtering tools.
- A new visualization tool — Phylotree Enhancement — with zoom capabilities.
- Expanded API capabilities providing easy interoperability with multiple data inputs from MGC’s StrainSEEK® sequencing panel and Whole Genome sequencing.
- Seamless Integration with integrative genomic viewer (IGV) and Uni Pro to explore genomic information in greater detail.
- New, improved visualization tools that enhance the strain interface with better display, compatibility with mobile devices and more detailed visualization of variant tables, rarity plots, heterozygosity, plant sex and plant type.
“Kannapedia 2.0 is an integral part of our industry-leading effort to bring genomic-based breeding to the world of legal cannabis,” said Brendan McKernan, Medicinal Genomics CEO. “These capabilities have been available to the broader ag community for decades and their value is well documented. These capabilities will accelerate breeding with greater precision. And that will fuel a tremendous advance in our understanding of how to breed this amazingly beneficial plant for our greater health and well-being.”
