The progress and perspective of rice functional genomics research in China

Abstract

Functional genomics research is the core field in plant scientific research. As a staple food crop and a reference of monocot plant, tremendous progress has been made in rice functional genomics in China. Various methods and technical platforms have been developed to enable high-throughput analyses and effective determination of gene functions, including: large T-DNA insertion mutant libraries; global gene expression profiles for the entire life cycle of rice growth and development, abiotic and/or biotic conditions; full-length cDNA clones; high-throughput genotyping by whole-genome resequencing; large-scale analyses of metabolome and reliable high- throughput phenotyping platforms, etc. With those enabling tools and genetic resources, large efforts have been focused on identifying genes controlling yield, fertility, superior quality, resistances to biotic and abiotic stresses, and high nutrient-use efficiency. The combination of approaches based on the advances in genomic research has been formulated to develop rice cultivars referred to as Green Super Rice (GSR). We briefly summarize these advances and call for the prospects in future proposed by Chinese scientists: the RICE2020 Project and the RICE 4D Genome Program.