IRRI - nternational Rice Functional Genomics Working Group
Genomics, the science of deciphering DNA sequence structure, variation, and function in totality, is expected to become the engine that drives discovery of traits and to help solve intractable problems in crop production. Through genomics, we will discover every rice gene, the functional diversity of genes in germplasm, and the overall architecture of genetic, biochemical and physiological systems in rice. Such knowledge will lead to new genetic improvement strategies to meet future targets in rice production.
The entire rice genome is being sequenced by a combination of public and private efforts and an essentially complete working draft sequence is expected to publicly available by the end of 2002. A completely sequenced rice genome will represent an enormous pool of information for rice improvement through marker-aided selection or genetic transformation. Yet, a full application of this wealth of information will not be possible until we understand the biological functions encoded by the sequenced DNA. Therefore, a parallel effort is needed to produce the genetic resources through which biological functions can be assigned to DNA sequences.
Functional genomics requires diverse genetic resources, expertise in evaluating and identifying important traits, and an extensive collaborative network to evaluate newly found traits in multiple environments.
Broad participation by the rice research community is therefore needed to realize the potential offered by genomic science (see Policy Forum in Science,Volume 290, Number 5490, Issue of 13 Oct 2000, pp. 279-280).
To meet this need, an International Rice Functional Genomics Working Group has been formed with the following objectives:
Rice Genome Research News & Talk