. Earth Science News .
Biologists Develop Large Gene Dataset For Rice Plant

Work being done by Blake Meyers at the University of Delaware is leading to increased understanding of the essential food crop rice.
by Staff Writers
Newark DE (SPX) Mar 19, 2007
Scientists have reported development of a large dataset of gene sequences in rice. The information will lead to an increased understanding of how genes work in rice, an essential food for much of the world's population. Plant biologist Blake Meyers at the University of Delaware and colleagues report their results in the March 11 on-line issue of the journal Nature Biotechnology.

Using advanced gene sequencing technologies and high-powered computer-based approaches, Meyers and colleagues examined both normal gene expression (via messenger ribonucleic acids, or mRNAs) as well as small ribonucleic acids (small RNAs) in rice.

The analysis of rice was based on gene sequences representing nearly 47 million mRNA molecules and three million small RNAs, a larger dataset than has been reported for any other plant species.

Small RNAs are considered one of most important discoveries in biotechnology in the last 10 years. Because they are so much smaller than mRNAs, small RNAs went unnoticed for many years, or were considered biologically unimportant, said Meyers.

Small RNAs are now known to play an important role in gene regulation, he said, adding that deficiencies in small RNA production can have a profound effect on development.

"Small RNAs also have been associated with other important biological processes, such as responses to stress," Meyers said. "Many of small RNAs in rice have related sequences in the many important cereal crop plants, including maize and wheat."

Research on small RNAs "is a leading edge in plant biotechnology," said Machi Dilworth, Director of the National Science Foundation (NSF)'s Division of Biological Infrastructure, which along with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, funded the research. "This work will contribute to an understanding of the role of small RNAs in gene expression not only in rice, but in all plants."

Email This Article

Related Links
The latest farming technology and science news

Anti-GM Stunt Targets France's Sarkozy
Paris (AFP) March 16, 2007
Greenpeace activists Friday unloaded a truck of maize outside the Paris headquarters of French presidential candidate Nicolas Sarkozy, urging him to back a moratorium on genetically-modified crops. The environmental group told AFP it targeted Sarkozy, head of the right-wing ruling UMP party, because he was "the only candidate in the presidential election who has not backed a moratorium on open-field GM crops." Fourteen protestors were arrested for holding an unauthorised demonstration and briefly held for questioning, Paris police said.







  • Birth And Rebirth In New Orleans
  • Airmen Upgrading Giant Voice Systems In England
  • Indonesia Allots One Billion Dollars To Prevent Floods
  • Relief Flows Into Indonesia Quake Area As Death Toll Revised Down

  • Nature Runs Riot In Europe Are Warm Winter
  • Statistical Analysis Debunks Climate Change Naysayers
  • Global Temperature Politics Or Science
  • Climate Change Will Heat Switzerland Swiftly

  • Global Sunscreen Has Likely Thinned
  • Airborne Science In The Classroom The Next-Best Thing To Being There
  • A Cold-Water Monster Current Off Sydney
  • CryoSat-2 On The Road To Recovery

  • United Solar Ovonic Awarded To Develop New Solarcells For Space And Airship Applications
  • New Lithium-Ion Battery Technology Created
  • Unlocking The Secrets Of High-Temperature Superconductors
  • China Bans New Small Coal-Based Power Generators

  • Genome Sequence Shows What Makes Bacteria Dangerous For Troops In Iraq
  • A Year Of Added Life More Valuable For The Young
  • Researchers Reconstruct Spread Of Bird Flu From China
  • Troubling Trends In AIDS Cases

  • Belief That Species Evolve Faster In Tropics Debunked
  • Remote Sheep Population Resists Genetic Drift
  • Social Tolerance Allows Bonobos To Outperform Chimpanzees On A Cooperative Task
  • Why Do Birds Migrate

  • Bacterium Could Treat PCBs Without The Need For Dredging
  • Asian Pollution Linked To Stronger Pacific Storm System
  • Canada's Oil Sands To Keep Polluting
  • As An Economy Blossoms An Ancient Capital Suffocates

  • Long Legs Are More Efficient
  • Eat Cocoa And Live Longer
  • The Global Aging Problem
  • Getting On Your Nerves And Repairing Them

  • The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2006 - SpaceDaily.AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA PortalReports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additionalcopyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement