THURSDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2002
Japan-led group decodes rice genome
AP
TOKYO: A Japan-led group of international researchers has effectively decoded the rice genome, a development that could lead to higher-yielding varieties aimed at alleviating hunger, a Japanese government official said Wednesday.
The finding by the consortium of scientists from 10 countries, may also lead to new strains capable of curing illnesses or allergies, said an agriculture ministry official who asked not to be named. It was completed with 99.99 percent accuracy, he said.
Rice is a staple for half the world's population, and the decoding of its genes is expected to help alleviate world hunger by making it easier for scientists to come up with varieties that are more nutritious and have higher yields.
Decoding the rice genome also provides a road map for other crops with more complex genomes, such as corn and wheat, researchers say.
"It is an epoch achievement on the scale of the decoding of the human genome," Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said, according his spokeswoman Misako Kaji.
"I am pleased that such a great achievement was made as a result of international cooperation," he said.
Japan decoded 55 percent of the sequence, followed by the United States with 18 percent and China with 10 percent, said the agriculture ministry official. Taiwan, France, India, South Korea, Thailand, the United Kingdom, and Brazil also participated.
Private sector companies have produced draft maps of the rice genome before - and passed on data to the consortium. But they only decoded the genome so there wouldn't be an error in more than one of 1,000 bases - building blocks for DNA - in the genome, or to 99.9 percent accuracy.
The international consortium has decoded the genome to the point where there isn't an error in more than one in 10,000 bases.
"If you think about the difference one part can have, the accuracy is very important," said Testuo Iino, professor emeritus at the University of Tokyo and an expert on DNA.
The rice genome is composed of about 400 million bases.
Two U.S. biotech companies - Torrey Mesa Research Institute, a subsidiary of Switzerland-based Syngenta and Myriad Genetics Inc. of Salt Lake City - announced their draft mapping of the genome in January 2001.
St. Louis-based Monsanto Co. also aided the project with research.
The researchers will make the gene map available to companies and governments so that they can develop new strains, the ministry official said.
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