Through Genomics, New Rice Can Impact World Hunger

March 12 - A new strain of flood-resistant rice currently being developed has the potential for making a huge impact on hunger for half of the world’s population, which relies on rice as a food staple.

With rising sea levels and more severe world weather patterns, flooding has become a major cause of crop failure for rice, which, although grown in flooded fields, can only stand complete submersion for an average of three days. In a very short matter of time, an entire crop could be completely destroyed. To combat the threat that floods hold over crop viability, researchers have introduced a gene for flood resistance from a low-yield, noncommercial rice species into a popular and flavorful but flood-intolerant variety of rice, to create a plant that can withstand submergence for up to 17 days. Farmers who tested the new variety in flood-prone areas of India and Bangladesh were able to increase their crop yields threefold to fivefold, without sacrificing sought-after characteristics like taste.

The technique used -- precision breeding -- uses genomics and molecular biology to pinpoint desirable genetic traits before crossbreeding plants. In 1998 the National Plant Genome Initiative (NPGI) was established to study the genomes of plants to provide a foundation for rapid, fundamental, and novel insights into the means by which plants grow, reproduce, adapt to different and sometimes stressful environments, and help stabilize ecosystems. Through NPGI-funded research and similar efforts, breakthroughs in precision breeding techniques like flood-resistant rice have been made possible. In 2008 the National Research Council released Achievements of the National Plant Genome Initiative and New Horizons in Plant Biology, which examined the significant impact this initiative has made on plant sciences.

• Plant Genome Sciences