HIGH QUALITY DRAFT SEQUENCE
OF RICE GENOME DECLARED COMPLETED
A high quality draft
sequence of rice genome by the International Rice Genome Sequencing
Project (IRGSP) has been declared completed. This was announced
by the Japanese Prime Minister Mr. Junichiro Koizumi in Tokyo
at the just concluded ceremony organised to commemorate the event
of decoding of the rice genome. He hailed it as a great achievement
in international cooperation in plant science research and epoch
making feat comparable to the completion of the first draft of
the human genome two years ago.
In a message to the
ceremony, the Prime Minister Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee said ‘it
is a matter of great pride for India that its scientists have
contributed to this international effort. He complimented in particular
the Department of Biotechnology which in association with the
Indian Council of Agricultural Research, jointly launched the
Indian initiative at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute
and the University of Delhi, South Campus. Also congratulating
scientists from ten participating nations, Shri Vajpayee expressed
the confidence that ‘publicly available rice genome sequence will
be used by crop scientists to pursue their goal in basic science
and agriculture.
India has the largest
area in the world under rice cultivation totalling 28 percent
of its arable land. The Indian scientists completed the international
obligation as member of the IRGSP in a record time of two and
a half years, contributing 15 million bases of sequence for Chromosome
11. The rice genome sequence harboring 62,435 genes would serve
as global heritage and golden standard for gene discovery and
precision breeding for crop improvement. This sequencing will
also help in uncovering useful genes from wheat, maize and millets
etc., close relatives of rice.
A working group meeting
was also held as part of the ceremony to plan future strategies
for genome completion and annotation. As parallel future strategy,
the Department of Biotechnology has evolved a functional genomics
effort, on inter-institutional basis, covering all scientists
and agencies. These endeavours have heralded a new era in plant
molecular biology research, for crop improvement, the Department
of Biotechnology says.
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