INTRODUCTION

The Rice Genome Research Program (RGP) is an integral part of the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) Genome Research Project. It is jointly coordinated by the National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences (NIAS), a government research institute under MAFF and the Society for Techno-innovation of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (STAFF), a semi-private research organization managed and supported by MAFF and a consortium of some twenty Japanese companies. The research is funded with yearly grants from MAFF and additional funds from the Japan Racing Association (JRA).

The program started in October 1991 and the first phase continued through 1997 resulting in the establishment of some of the basic tools of rice genome analysis. Reorganized into a national project in 1998, RGP now aims to completely sequence the entire rice genome and subsequently to pursue integrated goals in functional genomics, genome informatics and applied genomics. It is now the leading member of the International Rice Genome Sequencing Project (IRGSP), a consortium of ten countries sharing the sequencing of the 12 rice chromosomes.

Research activities are principally conducted at the STAFF Institute located in Tsukuba City, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan, about 50 km northeast of Tokyo. The STAFF Institute is a biotechnology research center operating in a five-story building with the second and third floors devoted to RGP staff comprising of nearly 80 researchers and technicians. We can be reached at the following address:

Rice Genome Research Program (RGP)
STAFF Institute
446-1, Ippaizuka, Kamiyokoba
Tsukuba-shi, Ibaraki-ken 305-0854
Japan

Telephone: +81-298-38-2113
Fax: +81-298-38-2302