MANILA (Commodity Online): The scientists at International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) to sequence the genomes of 10,000 rice varieties as it is key to developing new rice varieties adapted to challenges such as global warming and shrinking agricultural lands.

For this, IRRI has launched an ambitious collaborative effort to sequence the genomes of the rice varieties. According to the scientists at IRRI, the improved rice varieties are expected to help ease global hunger, as rice remains the most important crop plant, feeding more than half of the world's 7 billion people, reported www.scidev.net.

Genome sequencing will help the scientists to gather information about the hereditary structure of rice and will enable them to manipulate rice genes to produce improved varieties.

It will also be helpful in understanding how rice will fare against disease and how it can grow in various weather conditions or land types.

According to IRRI, around 3,000 varieties will be covered by the project.

The partners for the project are the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) and the Beijing Genomics Institute (BGI) and the financial fundings include the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and China's Ministry of Science and Technology.

"The ultimate goal is to sequence 10,000 rice strains selected from the rice gene bank collections at IRRI." Bicheng Yang, director of branding and communication, BGI.

The results will be shared with the public to promote rice breeding efforts, added Yang, and no single organisation will have exclusive rights to the data.

[马尼拉]国际水稻研究所（IRRI）启动了一项雄心勃勃的合作计划，从而在两年时间里对1万种水稻品种的基因组进行测序，这可能有助于培育更健壮、生长更快速或者产量比以前更高的新品种。

这个项目是在2004年国际水稻基因组测序项目的来自10个国家的科学家首次对日本晴（Nipponbare）栽培中进行测序之后开展的。前者用了7年时间，耗费了1亿美元，但是从那以后只有几种水稻被测序。

IRRI的科学家把基因组测序视为开发适应全球变暖和耕地面积缩小等挑战的新型水稻品种的关键。改良的水稻品种有望帮助缓解全球饥饿，因为水稻仍然是最重要的粮食作物，养活了全世界70亿人的一半以上。

基因组测序为科学家提供了水稻遗传结构的信息，并且能让科学家操纵水稻基因从而培育出改良品种。它还将有助于理解水稻如何应对疾病以及它如何能够在各种天气条件或者土地类型中生长。

IRRI说最初该计划将覆盖3000种水稻品种。这个阶段的合作伙伴是中国农业科学院以及华大基因（BGI）。资助者包括比尔与梅琳达•盖茨基金会以及中国科技部。

BGI的品牌与沟通部门主管Bicheng Yang说：“最终目标是对IRRI的水稻基因库中选出的1万种水稻品种进行测序。”

这个水稻基因库共有119000种水稻。

Yang说，该计划“需要大量的科学和财政支持。华大基因进行全基因组测序和基本数据处理，而来自中国农业科学院、IRRI、华大基因、可能还包括某些其他研究所的科学家将合作进行进一步的数据分析。”

Yang说，结果将与公众分享从而促进水稻育种工作，没有任何一个组织拥有这些数据的排他权利。