| Neo-Morgan Laboratory Incorporated (NML) is a biotechnology company established in 2002. NML was named after the geneticist Thomas Hunt Morgan who was awarded the Nobel Prize in physiology and medicine in 1933 for development of the chromosomal-gene theory of heredity and the creation of experimental biology as an exact science.
NML has developed unique technology, the disparity mutagenesis technology, for improvement and breeding of industrially useful organisms including microorganisms, cultured cells, plants and animals. This novel technology platform was developed from a theory that explains the evolution of organisms, the disparity theory of evolution, which was proposed by Dr. Mitsuru Furusawa, founder and CSO (Chief Science Officer) of NML. Disparity mutagenesis technology is designed to improve functional characteristics of organisms more efficiently than other methods such as X-ray irradiation and chemical mutagenesis.
NML has developed applications of this technology in industrial and university laboratories. Currently, improved strains of organisms are being developed in collaboration with pharmaceutical, food and chemical companies. NML has applied for patents to cover the basic technologies and specific applications of disparity mutagenesis.
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| Neo-Morgan Laboratory Incorporated |
Headquarters
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The Imperial Hotel Tower 6th Floor,
1-1-1, Uchisaiwai-cho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, 100-0011, JAPAN |
| Laboratory |
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Teikyo Univ. Biotech. Research Center 2nd Floor,
907 Nogawa Miyamae-ku, Kawasaki, Kanagawa, 216-0001, JAPAN |
| Established |
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November 25, 2002 |
| Captal |
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\566.2M (May 10, 2006) = about $5M |
| Board members |
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Tomohiro Fujita, CEO
Hideyuki Moriyama, CFO
Mitsuru Furusawa, Ph.D., CSO |
| Contact |
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TEL: +81-3-3519-6950
FAX: +81-3-3519-7056
E-mail: info@neo-morgan.com |
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| The substantial difference in the fidelity of genomic replication between the leading strand and the lagging strand is advantageous in terms of evolution because it allows for greater diversity of genotypes while guaranteeing the genotypes that have occurred in the past. The application of this Disparity Theory by artificially increasing the difference in the fidelity between the leading strand and the lagging strand allows evolution to accelerate while avoiding extinction of the population. |
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| Disparity Theory of Evolution |
| It is thought that evolution advances intermittently as in the example of the giraffe: No known fossil shows an intermediate neck length. Dr. Furusawa’s disparity theory of evolution provides a molecular mechanism to explain the abrupt appearance of new species according to the theory of punctuated equilibrium proposed by Gould and Eldredge in 1977.
Neo-Morgan Laboratory established a novel technology, the disparity mutagenesis technology based on the “disparity theory of evolution”, that enables improvement and breeding of industrially useful organisms. The organism’s innate ability to evolve through endogenous molecular mechanisms is speeded up so that new functions are acquired quickly.
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| Disparity Mutagenesis Technology |
| The substantial difference in the fidelity of genomic replication between the leading strand and the lagging strand is advantageous for evolution because it allows greater diversity of genotypes while guaranteeing the genotypes that have occurred in the past. The application of this disparity theory through artificial increase in the difference in fidelity between the leading strand and the lagging strand allows evolution to accelerate while avoiding extinction of the population.
Our technology, disparity mutagenesis technology, is effective for the improvement of plants and microorganisms such as yeast and lactic acid bacteria. It improves the efficiency of production and enables development of new useful compounds. We also investigate the mechanisms that are responsible for the evolution of organisms.
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| Original papers authored and co-authored by Dr. Furusawa |
- Promotion of evolution: disparity in the frequency of strand-specific misreading between the lagging and leading DNA strands enhances disproportionate accumulation of mutations. Furusawa M. and Doi H. J Theor Biol., 157(1),127-33 (1992)
- A neo-Darwinian algorithm: asymmetrical mutations due to semiconservative DNA-type replication promote evolution. Wada, K. N., Doi, H., Tanaka, S., Wada, Y. and Furusawa, M. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U S A., 90(24), 11934-8 (1993)
- Preferential replication-dependent mutagenesis in the lagging DNA strand in Escherichia coli. Iwaki, T., Kawamura, A., Ishino, Y., Kohno, K., Kano, Y., Goshima, N., Yara, M. Furusawa, M., Doi, H. and Imamoto, F. Mol. Gen. Genet., 251(6), 657-64 (1996)
- Evolution is promoted by asymmetrical mutations in DNA replication ? genetic algorithm with double strand DNA -.Doi, H. and Furusawa, M. FUJITSU Sci. Tech. J., 32, 248-55 (1996)
- Asymmetrical DNA replication promotes evolution: disparity theory of evolution. Furusawa, M. and Doi, H. Genetica. 102-103(1-6), 333-47 (1998)
- A conspicuous adaptability to antibiotics in the Escherichia coli mutator strain, dnaQ49. Tanabe, K., Kondo, T., Onodera, Y. and Furusawa, M. FEMS Microbiol. Lett., 176(1), 191-6 (1999)
- Promotion of evolution by intracellular coexistence of mutator and normal DNA polymerases. Aoki, K. and Furusawa, M. J. Theor. Biol., 209(2), 213-22 (2001)
- Increase in error threshold for quasispecies by heterogenous replication accuracy. Aoki, K. and Furusawa, M. Physical Review E, 68, 031904- 1~6 (2003).
- Isolation of thermotolerant mutants by using proofreading-deficient DNA polymerase delta as an effective mutator in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Shimoda, C., Itadani, A., Sugino, A. and Furusawa, M. Gen. Genet. Sys., 81(6), 391-97 (2006).
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