Chinese Scientists Among First to Crack Genetic Code of Rice

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, April 05, 2002

Chinese Scientists Among First to Crack Genetic Code of Rice

A group of Chinese scientists on Thursday unveiled the first draft of the genome sequence of indica, the most widely cultivated subspecies of rice in China and other Asian regions.

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Chinese Scientists Among First to Crack Genetic Code of Rice

A group of Chinese scientists on Thursday unveiled the first draft of the genome sequence of indica, the most widely cultivated subspecies of rice in China and other Asian regions.

The achievement, which will improve quality and output, is hailed as a milestone for agricultural research.

The sequencing of genetic code for rice, by Yang Huanming at the Beijing Genomics Institute and his colleagues from 10 other Chinese institutions and the University of Washington, in the United States, will be published in the Friday issue of the international journal Science.

Their analysis of the rice sequence has yielded some surprising findings, among them is that rice may have more genes than humans.

The Chinese team revealed that the indica genome contained 45,000 to 56,000 genes. The number of human genes is found to be only 30,000 to 40,000.

This may because in plants, protein diversity depends on gene duplication while in humans, protein diversity depends not only on gene duplication, but also on alternative splicing, the researchers said.

In the same issue, a second team, lead by Stephen Goff at Syngenta, the Swiss-based agrobiotechnology giant, reported a similar achievement for japonica, another rice subspecies prevalent in more arid regions.

There have been other efforts to sequence the rice genome, but Chinese scientists are the first to release the full draft sequence to the public databases.

International Rice Genome Sequencing Project, an 11-country consortium including China, is also working to sequence the rice genome. In April 2000, the US firm Monsanto announced its completion of a rough draft of the rice genome sequence. Both of them sequenced the japonica.

The genetic code behind rice, a staple for more than half the world's population, "�will speed improvements in nutritional quality, crop yield and sustainable agriculture to meet the world's growing needs," said Donald Kennedy, editor-in-chief of Science.

He believes the research on rice genome may prove more significant than the human genome sequence completion in improvements to human welfare.

Rice, which has a similar but smaller genome than other crops, is an ideal model to study wheat, maize, barley and other cereals.

The publication of draft genome sequences of two major rice subspecies promises to positively impact on cereal crop production and "�will have a global impact on human health," said articles published in Science.

Kennedy also praised the genomic research going on in China. "I don�t think there is any question about (China) being a world-class player" in genomic research, he told Xinhua.

"Obviously, the Beijing Genomics Institute and the extensive experience that the genomic community in China has gotten now put it in a position to continue to do terrific work of all kinds." he said.

"It's good to have this paper represented in our pages," he added.

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