The
International Rice Genome Sequencing Project i.e. the IRGSP is
to undertake phase III of rice genome sequencing. This is because,
a comparison of final sequence of two chromosomes generated by
the IRGSP with draft sequence of Indica rice revealing that about
half of the genes were not completely predicted earlier. The draft
sequence of Indica rice from China has about 1,27,550 pieces,
while another sequence of the same variety of rice contained 42,109
pieces. This has necessitated the IRGSP to go in for the third
phase of rice genome sequencing.
The international
rice genome sequencing project was initiated in 1997 by a consortium
led by Japan which now has 10 member countries i.e. Brazil, China,
France, India Japan, Korea, Thailand, Taiwan, Britain and the
United States. Nearly 90 percent of the rice produced globally
is consumed by humans and almost half the world population is
largely dependent on rice to fulfil their nutritional requirements.
Rice and wheat being vital for India’s food security, the Department
of Biotechnology and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research
jointly made the first Indian foray into the era of high throughput
genome sequencing.
After becoming a
formal member of the IRGSP in 2000, India successfully completed
genome sequencing and gene discovery on the long arm of the rice
Chromosome-11 allotted to it, of the total 12. Sequencing
of the other eleven chromosomes were taken up by other nine countries
with Japan in the lead. The sequencing of the rice genome will
also help in uncovering useful genes from wheat, maize and millets
etc. which are close relatives of rice.
