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Rice TodayJanuary-March 2006
The recent sequenci
of the rice genome
ushers in an exciting
new era in public
rice research
geneThe
by Duncan Macintosh,photography by Ariel Javellana
NIOR plant pathologistung, seen here examiningarkers linked to
diseasence, says the rice genomece will help researcherseful genes
in not only riceo related cereals such asand wheat.
revolution
Despite the historic significance othis years final sequencing
of
rice genome, few in the internatrice industryexcepting
riceresearcherscould be expected
fully understand the huge potential impacof this major
scientific breakthrough.
The news was confusing to the layfor several reasons. First,
this latest
genome sequencing was just the mrecent of a series of rice
sequenc
announcements since the first by the agricultural c
orporatio
Monsanto in 2000. In each the published sequence wasand more
precise, culmina
with the 2005 announcemthe 11 August issue of the jNatureby the
InternationGenome Sequencing Proje(IRGSP) of the most detail
complete sequence yet.Second, while many ag
the sequencing breakthroughad major implications for r
productionespecially excitincontext of rice being the staple
for almost half the planets pop
Rice TodayJanuary-March 2006
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18 Rice TodayJanuary-March 2006
based on the first template, and thenassociate the variation
with diseasesor behavior. One can imagine similarapplications to
find genes usefulfor disease resistance or droughttolerance, for
example, in rice aswell as in other related plants.
Zeigler describes the formation
of the IRGSP in 1998 as a majormilestone in
internationalcollaboration to accelerate thediscovery of important
genes in therice plant. Both the public and privatesector
contributed substantiallycomplete draft sequences fromtwo rice
subspeciesjaponica andindicain 2002 but it took the IRGSPto
complete the job and to makesure that all of the important
geneticinformation was publicly available.
The international rice
research community realized thata dedicated group would be
vitalin the postsequencing functionalgenomics era of rice
research.Thus, following completion ofthe draft sequence in 2002,
anInternational Rice FunctionalGenomics Consortium
(www.iris.irri.org/IRFGC) grew out of the existingIRRI-coordinated
InternationalRice Functional Genomics WorkingGroup. The consortium,
formedin 2003, featured an interimsteering committee of
scientistsrepresenting 18 institutions from
10 countries and two internationalagricultural research
centers.
The goals of the original workinggroupwhich essentially aimed
toenhance rice functional genomics bybuilding a global research
communityand sharing new knowledge, tools,
and resourceswere consolidatedby the consortium objectives.
Alongwith the development of specificgenomics tools, these include
anintegrated online global networkof rice functional
genomicsdatabases by the end of 2006, andcharacterization of the
functionof 60% of rice genes by 2010.
The goals of the originalworking group were to builda research
community with ashared vision of rice functionalgenomics; create a
common resourceplatform to broaden access to
and promote sharing of the newgenetic and genomics
knowledge,tools, and resources of functionalgenomics; and gain
efficiency andaccelerate application of functionalgenomics to rice
improvement.
Theres no doubt the privatesector has a very important role
to
play in this exciting new era of riceresearch, Zeigler stresses.
Butthe role of this consortium, and theway it has been set up,
means thegains achieved will be available tothose who need them
mostpoorrice farmers and consumers.
Leung concurs that thepublic nature of the sequencingwill
ultimately be a huge boonto those who most need help.
The publication of the high-quality sequencemaking it fully
publicis not only scientificallysignificant but symbolic
ofinternational collaboration, hesays, although we shouldnt jumpto
the conclusion that it will solve allproblems in rice production. I
thinkthe harvest will come later when weuse the information to
discover genefunction. But having an importantagricultural crop
like rice as a modelfor international collaborationis a boost to
agriculture.
Duncan Macintosh is the spokesperson
for IRRI and publisher ofRice Today.
RUARAIDH SACKVILLE HAMILTON, head ofIRRIs Genetic Resources
Center, peers throughshelves of some of the more than 100,000types
of rice stored in the institutes Interna-tional Rice Genebank. The
genetic treasuresheld therein will be easier to find with thenew
sequence information. An IRRI scientistcrushes rice leaves to
extract DNA (top).
