The 3000 Rice Genomes Project, a collaboration between the Chinese Academy
of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), the International Rice Research Institute
(IRRI), and Beijing Genomics Institute (BGI), has announced the publication
of the genome sequencing of 3,000 rice strains, together with the release of
this entire dataset in citable format in the journal GigaScience's
open-access database, GigaDB.

The publication and release of the dataset which quadruple the current
amount of publicly available rice sequence data, coincides with World Hunger
Day (May 28, 2014) to highlight efforts to develop resources that will help
improve global food security, especially in the poorest areas of the world.

IRRI Director General Dr. Robert Ziegler said, "access to 3,000 genomes of
rice sequence data will tremendously accelerate the ability of breeding
programs to overcome key hurdles mankind faces in the near future." He added
that this project will add an immense amount of knowledge to rice genetics,
and enable detailed analysis by the global research community to ultimately
benefit the poorest farmers who grow rice under the most difficult
conditions.

[www.genomics.cn]