CLEMSON JOINS CELEBRATION OF UNLOCKING RICE GENETIC CODE

CLEMSON -- In time for the holiday season, genetics researchers offer a gift to the world: completion of the rice genome. Unlocking the cereal's genetic code holds the promise of improving nutrition for hundreds of millions of people.

A member of the international rice genome project, Clemson University joins other participants in Washington, D.C., today to celebrate the event. The day's events will include remarks by dignitaries from the United States and Japan, followed by a reception.

Officials at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Science Foundation and Department of Energy announced completion of the International Rice Genome Sequencing Project. Coordinated by the Japan Rice Genome Program, the project will improve the quality and quantity of crop yields. The announcement coincided with one made in Tokyo.

Rice is the staple food for over half of humankind. In response to global problems, such as population pressure and environmental degradation, technological research to increase sustainable agricultural productivity is a priority. Decoding the rice genome sequence is expected to contribute greatly toward the food security goal.

"The highly accurate IRGSP sequence will serve as the gold standard for all future investigations of genetic variation in crops," said Ronald P. Cantrell, director general of the International Rice Research Institute, earlier this year.

The achievement represents the highest quality sequence of the rice genome ever assembled and publicly available, with an error rate less than .01 percent. Cereals, such as wheat, barley, oats, corn and sorghum, will benefit from the decoding of the rice genome by increasing knowledge about disease resistance, nutrition, response to inhospitable environments, fiber quality, oil content and other agriculturally important traits.

Launched in 1998, the project represented a multinational effort to map the rice genome's 12 chromosomes within 10 years. U.S. funding for the project totaled $14.4 million. Along with the United States and Japan, participants included Brazil, China, France, India, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and European Union members.

The U.S. research effort has been based at the Institute for Genomic Research in Maryland, Clemson University in South Carolina, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York, Washington University in Missouri and the University of Arizona. The U.S. rice genome program is part of the national initiative to understand the structure and function of plant genes important to agriculture, the environment and health.

The Clemson University Genomics Institute is the only genome center in the country dedicated to crop plants and the pests that reduce production of food crops and cotton. A genome is the complete genetic blueprint of an organism.

"We're pleased that the genomics institute has the capability to provide the framework for this major international effort," said Jim Fischer, dean and director of the South Carolina Agriculture and Forestry Research System, which sponsors the genomics institute. "We have worked very hard to build Clemson into a world leader in biotechnology research."

According to Rita R. Colwell, director of the National Science Foundation, "the rice genome's sequence is crucial to our scientific understanding of the staples of life. With this data we open new doors at all levels of research: the universities, private industry and government."