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Genome map of Indica rice completed

Beijing Dec. 13. Chinese scientists have published the world's first complete genome map of the widely produced Indica Rice, which will help understand the biological heredity of rice.

With the announcement, China claims to have become the first country to come out with the complete genome map of a plant.

Indica Rice, and rice cross-bred with Indica, account for 80 per cent of the world's rice output.

``This is another major achievement by Chinese scientists in the field of genetics, leading on from the working draft of the Indica Rice genome published last year,'' the People's Daily said today.

One of the principle researchers of the project, Dr. Yu Jun, said the complete map covers 97 per cent of rice genes, and the same percentage has been located in its chromosomes.

A genome map will help people understand this important crop a lot better. It lays the foundations for the study of rice genomes and proteins, and explains its natural pattern of growth, disease prevention and yield. It has huge potential in scientific research and agriculture production.

The Vice-Minister of Science and Technology, Liu Yanhua, said China has led the world in the research of hybrid rice.

The Government is investing more heavily in the study of genomics. In the first half of the 1990s, we invested only 50 million Yuan in this field. The figure jumped to 200 million in the latter part of the 90s. ``We plan to increase investment ten-fold in the five years from 2001 to 2005,'' Mr. Liu said.

PTI

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