Rice DNA finding will transform how the world is fed

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The rice genome must be made available to all

Scientists have deciphered the full genetic sequence of the rice plant in a landmark study that promises to revolutionise the creation of newvarieties of staple crops to feed an increasingly hungry world.

Two international teams of scientists present details of their work on the rice genome today in the journal Science, which says that it is one of the most important pieces of research it has published.

Rice is the staple crop for more than half of the world's population and its genome will be the research model that scientists will use to unravel the genetic secrets of the other main cereals, such as maize, wheat, barley and oats.

Jun Yu, of the Beijing Genomics Institute and the University of Washington Genome Centre, led a team from 11 research centres who decoded the genome of the indica rice strain, commonly grown in China. A second team led by Stephen Goff of Syngenta, the Swiss-based agrochemicals company, decoded the DNA of the japonica strain of rice grown in more temperate regions of the world, such as Japan.

Early estimates indicate that rice contains between 45,000 and 56,000 genes. Scientist believe the discovery will help to generate varieties that are higher-yielding and more pest-resistant and drought-tolerant.

"Rice is the most important crop in the world. I think this is more important even than the publication of the human genome," Donald Kennedy, the editor of Science, said.

Steven Briggs, of the Syngenta team, said the finding would lead to "improvements both in yield and in quality of the grain produced".