UA rice genome researchers win national award

University of Arizona plant geneticist Rod Wing and his research team received the most prestigious award given by the U.S. Department of Agriculture last month for their work on sequencing the rice genome.

Wing, director of the Arizona Genomics Institute, was one of about 30 scientists worldwide to receive the USDA Honor Award for the multi-national rice project, which has been in progress since 1998. He is one of the top three U.S. scientists working on the project.

Wing and the other scientists hope to learn more about rice's genetic makeup in order to make way for future development of higher-yield, disease- and drought-resistant strains.

The global team effort, which includes scientists from 10 nations, is "laying the foundation to try to understand the basis for things like yield, disease resistance and insect pressure," Wing told the Arizona Daily Star.

Wing, who secured the largest National Science Foundation grant at UA last year at $3.8 million, is the first recipient of the USDA award at the university.

The U.S. Rice Genome Sequencing Project and its international collaborators expect the rice genome to be completely sequenced by December 2004. The year has been dubbed the 'Year of Rice' by the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization. Over half the world's burgeoning population, mostly in the Asia and Africa, relies on rice as its principal food source.

More information:

"Sequencing the Rice Genome," Tucson Citizen, 06/25/04

"Research group at UA wins top award," Arizona Daily Star, 06/26/04

"UA scientists part of 10-nation project to map rice genes," 01/08/03