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Scientists led by Gane Ka-Shu Wong from the Beijing Institute of Genomics
reported a ?much improved, near complete genome analysis of the indica and
japonica subspecies of Oryza sativa? in an article published in PLoS
Biology, February 2005 by Gane Ka-Shu Wong .

They used the combined DNA sequence data from the two subspecies to
facilitate the sequence assembly. This resulted in an almost 1,000-fold
increase in contiguity for the two genome sequences relative to the existing
sequence data.

In their article ?The genomes of Oryza sativa: a history of duplications,?
Wong and colleagues mentioned that they used their improved genome sequence
to investigate the evolutionary history of rice.

They noted that there is evidence in the rice DNA sequences for a
whole-genome duplication event just before the grasses diverged from other
flowering plants, about 55?70 million years ago.

This genome duplication may have played a role in the origin of the grasses,
which then spread rapidly across the world.

The individual gene duplications provide a continuous source of raw material
for gene genesis. The challenge is thus to use the rice sequence to develop
improved strains of rice and other important food crops.

The article is available online at [www.plosbiology.org].

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