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February 9, 2001
The International Rice Genome Sequencing Project (IRGSP) decided last night to produce a complete public sequence of the rice genome in the shortest possible time.
The IRGSP is a consortium of scientists from 11 countries who have organized to obtain the DNA sequence of the rice genome. They work on a common cultivar, share materials, coordinate their activities on different chromosomes, and publish their results immediately.
Currently the consortium has published 30 million base pairs of high quality sequence. The Rice Genome Research Program (RGP) in Tsukuba, the lead group in the organization, announced yesterday that they expected to complete the high quality sequence of the largest of rice’s 12 chromosomes in two months. International genome sequencing standards specify that complete sequences will have less than one error in 10,000 nucleotides (99.99% accuracy).
Recent advances point the way for an acceleration of the pace at which the IRGSP puts sequence into the public domain. Members recently learned that they could do less repetitive sequencing to achieve the stated level of accuracy. They also changed their sequence release policy to mandate earlier sequence release. Last year Monsanto Company offered to share their draft sequence of the rice genome with the IRGSP. All of this information has now been transferred to the RGP which manages the distribution of the data for the IRGSP. This data will speed the work of the IRGSP in two ways: Less sequencing will be required, and the minumum number of clones used to sequence the entire genome is easier to decipher.
The way now exists for the IRGSP to produce a complete genome sequence in a very short time. This will take advantage of the combined large insert clones from Clemson University, Monsanto, and the RGP. The minimum clone set for specific regions of the rice chromosomes will be assigned to members based on their sequencing capacity and they will sequence these to at least a 10 X coverage which will produce phase 2 quality sequence for immediate public release. This quality will produce accurate sequence with some short gaps, but all of the pieces will be ordered and their orientation with respect to each other will be known. Once the entire genome sequence is obtained in this manner, the members will fill the gaps.
The rice DNA sequence will be used to discover genes that affect rice quality yield. These gene sequences are urgently needed by rice breeders to help them in their work to make rice a more productive plant. It is important that the sequences are in the public domain so that they can be used freely by plant breeders and plant scientists around the world. The rice sequences will also be used to improve other cereal grains like wheat and maize.
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