Data from the 3000 Rice Genomes Project officially released
"Rice Cloud" accelerates the breeding of new green super rice varieties
Our reporter Zhang Zhenzhong. How can the breeding process for new green super rice varieties with high yield, good quality and wide adaptability be accelerated? The "Rice Cloud" project will provide a powerful answer. On September 15, the raw sequencing data of 3000 core rice germplasm genomes were unveiled for the first time in Changsha, Hunan, and through the implementation of the "Rice Cloud" project, shared data and an analysis platform are being provided free of charge to the world, offering information support for the new breeding technologies of the green super rice project.
The "Rice Cloud" project was jointly launched by the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Alibaba Cloud Computing Co., Ltd., Huazhi Rice Bio-Tech Co., Ltd. and Beijing Judao Technology Co., Ltd. The project originates from the achievements of an important component of the green super rice project - the 3000 Rice Genomes Project. The genome sequencing data of 3000 core rice germplasm resources from 89 countries around the world will, through the implementation of the "Rice Cloud" project, gradually build the most comprehensive "rice functional genome and breeding information database", providing basic information resources for fundamental research on the rice genome and for the upgrading and application of future rice breeding technologies.
According to Dr. Li Zhikang of the Institute of Crop Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, chief scientist of the green super rice project, the overall goal of the green super rice project is to breed new rice varieties that can be widely adapted to the ecological environments of irrigated and rainfed areas and that have characteristics such as efficient use of nitrogen and phosphorus, disease resistance, insect resistance, high yield, good quality and stress resistance, and to demonstrate and promote them in 17 countries in Africa and Asia, benefiting 20 million rice farmers.
Zhang Jian, general manager of Huazhi Rice Bio-Tech Co., Ltd., analysed that when rice genome research meets "cloud computing", it will produce tremendous magic. Rice experts around the world sharing the rice genome data of the "Rice Cloud" project will help to carry out in-depth development of the 3000 rice genome sequences and accelerate the breeding process for new varieties with high yield, good quality, strong wide adaptability and strong disease resistance. For example, the shortcoming of the newly released "Liangyou 0293" variety is its relatively poor resistance to rice blast, whereas the 3000 rice genomes research, with the help of the "Rice Cloud" project, will within 3 years not only find more disease resistance genes, but is also expected to raise the rice blast resistance of new varieties to level 3 or above, thereby breeding new rice varieties with relatively comprehensive yield, resistance and other traits, and making super rice varieties better and more widely adaptable.