National rice gene breeding platform established with Shanghai taking the lead
According to the latest news released by the Shanghai Academy of Agricultural Sciences, a nationwide rice gene resource and molecular technology breeding platform, established with the lead of units including the Shanghai Agricultural Biological Gene Center, has achieved sharing across society, has mapped a large number of genes related to rice yield, grain quality, stress resistance and other traits, and has bred multiple new rice varieties and new combinations.
According to relevant personnel from the Shanghai Academy of Agricultural Sciences, the main goals of current rice variety improvement are to further increase yield potential, improve quality and enhance stress resistance. The history of rice research shows that the key to achieving breakthrough results lies in the innovation and utilization of gene resources. China has abundant rice germplasm resources, which contain a large number of favorable genes, but conventional techniques make it difficult to discover and utilize these genes. Currently, less than 5% of the gene resources available are used in breeding practice.
Since the end of the last century, units including the Shanghai Agricultural Biological Gene Center have organized relevant domestic research forces to implement the research project "Innovation of Rice Gene Resources and Molecular Technology Breeding." At present, a large-scale rice functional gene resource platform has been basically constructed and put into application. Complete permanent mapping populations and introgression line populations have been constructed, and systematic cataloging, seed multiplication and storage preservation have been carried out for these materials and more than 38,000 introgression lines representing the genetic backgrounds of main cultivars in different ecological regions of China. The related gene resource information network system has achieved sharing across society, and more than 15,000 resource distributions have been made to relevant agricultural research institutions in 20 provinces across the country.
It is understood that during the advancement of the project, relevant personnel also constructed a rice molecular marker technology platform, developed a large number of molecular markers, and established an efficient detection technology system for molecular markers; mapped 131 genes related to agronomy, quality, resistance, yield and other traits; and for the first time discovered a group of indica-japonica specific markers and established a rice indica-japonica classification technology.
The establishment and application of the rice gene resource and molecular technology breeding platform have promoted domestic rice germplasm innovation and the breeding and promotion of new varieties. According to statistics, during the implementation of the entire research project, through marker-assisted introgression and pyramiding breeding, 35 new germplasm lines with important application prospects were developed; 6 new rice varieties and new combinations were bred and passed national variety approval, with a cumulative promotion area of more than 18 million mu, an increase in rice output of 2.3 billion kg, and social and economic benefits of more than 2 billion yuan.