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October 8, 2007
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United
States of America
Strategies for developing Green
Super Rice
Qifa Zhang
National Key Laboratory of Crop Genetic Improvement, National
Center of Plant Gene Research and National Center of Crop
Molecular Breeding, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan
430070, China
Abstract
From a global viewpoint, a number of challenges need to be met
for sustainable rice production: (i) increasingly severe
occurrence of insects and diseases and indiscriminate pesticide
applications; (ii) high pressure for yield increase and overuse
of fertilizers; (iii) water shortage and increasingly frequent
occurrence of drought; and (iv) extensive cultivation in
marginal lands. A combination of approaches based on the recent
advances in genomic research has been formulated to address
these challenges, with the long-term goal to develop rice
cultivars referred to as Green Super Rice. On the premise of
continued yield increase and quality improvement, Green Super
Rice should possess resistances to multiple insects and
diseases, high nutrient efficiency, and drought resistance,
promising to greatly reduce the consumption of pesticides,
chemical fertilizers, and water. Large efforts have been focused
on identifying germplasms and discovering genes for resistance
to diseases and insects, N- and P-use efficiency, drought
resistance, grain quality, and yield. The approaches adopted
include screening of germplasm collections and mutant libraries,
gene discovery and identification, microarray analysis of
differentially regulated genes under stressed conditions, and
functional test of candidate genes by transgenic analysis. Genes
for almost all of the traits have now been isolated in a global
perspective and are gradually incorporated into genetic
backgrounds of elite cultivars by molecular marker-assisted
selection or transformation. It is anticipated that such
strategies and efforts would eventually lead to the development
of Green Super Rice.
Access to full article for
subscribers:
http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/abstract/0708013104v1?etoc
RELATED NEWS RELEASE:
"Green" super
rice is one goal of newly formed collaboration between
University of Arizona and Huazhong Agricultural University in
Wuhan, China |
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