An agreement between Genaissance Pharmaceuticals Inc., Monsanto Company, and the Agricultural Research Service is expected to provide U.S. soybean plant breeders with new technology for more accurate and efficient plant breeding research. The project's intent is to map DNA markers in soybeans, creating a molecular genetic map of the soybean. All the information and use of soybean markers covered by the agreement will be freely available to all U.S. soy breeders and geneticists, creating the first publicly available map of its kind. Monsanto will provide funding to support the mapping that Genaissance will perform.