Two groups of researchers have drafted the DNA sequence of the rice plant, a move that many hope will enable scientists to breed stronger and higher yielding varieties.
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The journal Science reported that researchers from the Beijing Genomics Institute and the University of Washington Genome Center, together with scientists from 11 Chinese institutions, untangled the code of the indica rice strain, the predominant subspecies in China and other Asian-Pacific countries.
Meanwhile, Swiss-based Syngenta led the research to decode the japonica subspecies, which is popular in more arid regions and Japan.
Both groups used the Whole-Genome Shotgun technique for decoding the plants, and found that rice contains between 10,000 and 30,000 more genes than a human being. About 75% of these genes are repeated in the code, however.
Rice, a staple food for more than half the world’s population, is the first plant to be sequenced and the second plant to be decoded. Many expect that the new data will help scientists create better varieties of other important grass crops.
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By GlobalDataThe Syngenta team has been criticised however for not filing the sequenced rice code in the public database GenBank as is usual. Instead, it is in an account jointly held by the journal Science and a system run by Syngenta. This means that researchers hoping to use the data need to sign usage agreements with the company and the advance of new knowledge could be slowed.
