Scientists map rice genome, predict higher yields
Wed Aug 10, 2005
By Gideon Long
LONDON, Aug 10 (Reuters) - Scientists claimed a major breakthrough on Wednesday in the drive to produce rice more cheaply and efficiently, saying they had completed the first map of the cereal's genome, or genetic code.
That should allow agriculturalists to increase rice yields, potentially benefiting billions of people who rely on the crop as their main food source.
"This is a breakthrough of inestimable significance, not only for science and agriculture but also for all those people who depend on rice as their primary dietary staple," said Joachim Messing, one of the scientists involved in the project.
Researchers from 10 countries worked together to identify all 37,544 genes in rice and establish the position of each gene on rice's 12 chromosomes.
They said they had identified some particularly important genes which might increase yield and productivity.
Private companies Monsanto and Syngenta, among others, had previously produced partial sequences which led to genetic modification of rice but had not been able to draw up a full model.
The two companies gave their draft sequences to scientists from the International Rice Genome Sequencing Project (IRGSP), a public consortium which finished the job.
"The genetic map will greatly speed the hunt for genes that increase yield, protect against disease and pests or provide drought-resistance in rice and other cereal crops," said Robin Buell, the IRGSP's lead investigator.
The IRGSP says the implications are enormous simply because rice is so essential to so many people.
According to the United Nations, rice supplies 20 percent of the world's dietary energy supply. In Asia, more than 2 billion people obtain 60-70 percent of their calories from rice or rice-derived products.
With populations growing in the developing world, rice is set to become even more important.
Consumption trends suggest that 4.6 billion people will be reliant on it by 2025 compared to around 3 billion now. That means rice production will have to grow by around 30 percent to keep up with demand.
Experts say the mapping of the rice genome also has implications for the production of other cereals.
Messing, the director of a microbiology institute at one of the 32 institutions involved in the IRGSP, described the rice genome as "the Rosetta Stone of all the bigger grass genomes".
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