U.S. Rice Genome Sequencing
Project
The International Rice Genome Sequencing
Project (IRGSP) Working Group, consisting
of members from Brazil, China, the European
Union, France, India, Japan, Korea, Taiwan,
Thailand, and the United States, has been
implementing a coordinated effort to determine
a high quality “draft” sequence
of the rice genome by 2002 (accomplished)
and a “finished” sequence by
2004.
The plan draws upon resources developed
at many different institutions in different
countries, seeking to capitalize on advances
in genomic technology, coordinate development
and use of genetic tools and expertise, and
avoid duplication of infrastructure and human
resources. The benefits are obvious to both
academic and industrial researchers, with
implications for the development of new strains
of transgenic rice that display improved
nutritional qualities, tolerate greater temperature
extremes, or require less intensive arable
land for cultivation. All international sequencing
groups continue to coordinate their efforts
and assess current technology and strategies,
through a series of regularly scheduled workshops
and meetings.
In 1999 CSREES, as the lead U.S. agency
in partnership with the National Science
Foundation (NSF) and Department of Energy
(DOE), competitively funded two U.S. projects
to participate in the IRGSP,
which includes investigators from Arizona,
South Carolina, Missouri, New York, Wisconsin,
and Maryland. The multinational project,
comprised of laboratories in 10 countries,
announced the decoding of an advanced rice
genome sequence six years ahead of schedule
in Tokyo, Japan, in December 2002.
To celebrate this achievement, CSREES, in
partnership with NSF, DOE, the National Institutes
of Health, and the Office of Science and
Technology Policy (OSTP), hosted a coinciding
event in Washington, DC, that included remarks
from the Secretary of Agriculture, Deputy
Director General of the Japanese Ministry
of Agriculture, Director of the OSTP-Executive
Office of the President, and distinguished
scientists.
Now that an advanced sequence is complete,
the Interagency Working Group, of which CSREES
is a partner, intends to develop a rice functional
genomics project as a Rosetta stone for all
plants, in particular the cereals such as
wheat, sorghum, barley, oats, and corn. The
goal is to associate sequence information
with pathways or networks of genes to increase
knowledge of disease resistance, nutrition,
growth and development, fiber quality, oil
content, and other agriculturally important
traits.
A significant development for the IRGSP
was the contribution of an industrially funded “Draft” sequencing
data by Monsanto Corporation and Syngenta.
In addition, “Draft” sequence
from the Beijing Genome Institute is available.
Taken together, the data will greatly facilitate
the IRGSP's ability to map contiguous sequence
locations on the rice genetic map.
A dynamic dialogue has ensued as all sequencing
partners assess the best strategy with which
to maximize the benefit of this rough draft
sequence and to merge the information with
a high-resolution physical map of the rice
genome. The scope of this partnership between
private and public plant international research
sectors is unprecedented; it will likely
result in an accelerated time frame to “finish” the
rice genome, now estimated to conclude in
2004 or soon after.
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