Rice chromosomes 1 and 4 sequence finished (2002)
The Rice Genome Research Program (RGP) in Japan in collaboration with the National Institute of Agricultural Science and Technology (NIAST) in Korea, and the National Center for Gene Research (NCGR) in China have completed the sequencing of chromosomes 1 and 4, respectively, as reported in two separate papers published in the November 21 issue of Nature. As the first two rice chromosomes to be completely and accurately sequenced, this is an important milestone for the International Rice Genome Sequencing Project (IRGSP), which aims to sequence the entire rice genome.
Chromosome 1, which is the longest chromosome in the rice genome, is estimated to be 45.7 Mbp in length and codes for 6,756 genes. It is also characterized by several gene families that are dispersed or arranged in tandem repeats. The finished sequence of chromosome 4 on the other hand, spans 34.6 Mbp and codes for 4,658 genes. The average gene density for the two chromosomes, 6.4 kb /gene in chromosome 1 and 7.4 kb / gene in chromosome 4, is lower than in Arabidopsis (4.5 kb / gene).
Publications and reference sites:
Sasaki et al. 2002. The genome sequence and structure of rice chromosome 1. Nature 420:312-316.
Feng et al. 2002. Sequence and analysis of rice chromosome 4. Nature 420:316-320.
http://rgp.dna.affrc.go.jp/rgp/complete-chr/chr1/chr1-complete.html
http://bioserver.myongji.ac.kr/ricemac.html
http://www.ncgr.ac.cn/english/ep4.htm
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