The Huazhong Agricultural University announced on February 21, 2006 that a study of functional rice genomics under a national special project, headed by ZHANG Qifa, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and professor with the University, achieved substantive progresses.    

Created in 2002, the special project has established a T-DNA mutation bank made up of 270,000 independent transformers in 2005. Calculating on two modified genes for each transformer, the probability of all rice gene marking approaches 99%. The efforts provide the materials needed for massive separation of functional genes using adverse genetic strategies. The project also established a platform for analyzing rice genomic expressions, in addition to a line of special chips for diverse purposes, including full growth cDNA, full genome gripNA, imbricate arrays, and No. 4 chromosome specificity. Researchers also collected rich data on major growing periods, and gene expressions under the constraints of low nitrogen and phosphor levels, which are used to tap up new genes and study the gene regulated metabolism network. Researchers have so far analyzed the full-length cDNAs of some 30,00 Chinese rice specimens, and developed a database and associated analyzing technology for bioinformatics. The information and data derived from the project have been shared among both domestic and overseas experts.

Aiming at the improvement of Chinese paddy rice species, the project has cloned 107 new genes of clearly defined functions and potential application values, of which 18 have proved major application perspectives for improved yield, quality, disease resistance, adversity resistance, and nutrition. It also discovered and identified more than 1100 new genes and modulators. These efforts are important for stemming out China?痵 reliance on imported genes for its crop biotechnology development.

The project produced 79 patent applications, with some ten papers published in the journals of Nature, Science, Plant Genetics, and Plant Cytology, and more than 130 papers in other major international journals.