$12.3 Million in Grants Awarded to Decode Rice Genome
                                                               
                                            Release No. 0394.99
                                                               
              Media Contact at USDA: Maria Bynum (202) 720-5192
                                           maria.bynum@usda.gov
             Media Contact at DOE: Jeff Sherwood (202) 586-5806
                                       jeff.sherwood@hq.doe.gov
              Media Contact at NSF: Cheryl Dybas (703) 306-1070
                                                 cdybas@nsf.gov
                                                               
$12.3 MILLION IN GRANTS AWARDED TO DECODE RICE GENOME
                                                                 
     WASHINGTON, Oct. 5, 1999  The Department of Agriculture, Department of
Energy, and National Science Foundation have jointly awarded $12.3 million in
two grants to map and sequence the genome of the rice plant, Agriculture
Secretary Dan Glickman announced today.  

        "What we might learn from this work can lead to better quality and
improved crop yields." Glickman said. "This kind of collaborative project will
have a profound impact on the way research is conducted in the plant sciences
and will accelerate advances in our understanding of the biology of plants." 

     The grants were awarded to the Institute for Genomics Research in
Maryland; and to a consortium of Clemson University in South Carolina, Cold
Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York, and Washington University in Missouri. 
The two groups will coordinate their efforts to sequence chromosome 10, the
chromosome assigned to the U.S. for sequencing by the International Rice
Genome Working Group.

     Martha Krebs, director of the Department of Energy's Office of Science
said, "The rice genome sequencing project is an important step towards our
increased understanding of grass species.  The sequence will provide a
powerful foundation for the development of innovative biobased products and
bioenergy technology."

     "These awards will permit full participation by U.S. scientists in the
international effort to sequence the entire rice genome," said National
Science Foundation Assistant Director for Biological Sciences Mary E. Clutter. 

     When sequencing is completed, rice will be the second largest genome to
be completely
sequenced.  The effort is significant because rice shares common sets of genes
with most of the world's major food crops.  The relatively small size of the
rice genome makes it an ideal model system for understanding also the genomic
sequences of other major grass crops including corn, wheat, rye, barley,
sorghum, sugarcane, and millet.  

     In addition to the United States, countries involved in the
International Rice Genome Working Group include Canada, China, the European
Union, France, India, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, and Thailand.   

     U.S. rice genome efforts are part of the national plant genome
initiative to understand the structure and function of genes in plants
important to agriculture, environmental management, energy, and health.  
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