The outcomes of a joint Vietnam-UK research project on sequencing the
genomes of a number of Vietnamese indigenous rice varieties were made
public at a workshop in Hanoi on August 28.
The project, running between January 2011 and June 2013, is within the
international cooperation framework between Vietnam’s Ministry of
Science and Technology and the UK’s Biotechnology and Biological
Sciences Research Council.
As a result, scientists from the two countries have decoded the genomes of 36 rice varieties.
This is the first time Vietnam has fully decoded genomes of rice,
which will help scientists in their research on the conservation of gene
resource and the selection of high-yield and high-quality varieties,
capable of resisting unfavourable conditions both bio and non-bio, Tran
Viet Thanh, Deputy Minister of Science and Technology said at the
workshop.
Thanks to the project, Vietnamese
scientists have accessed advanced gene decoding methods and equipment,
thus gradually becoming able to do the work themselves towards the
building of a rice genetic database of the country.
An additional 600 varieties of rice are expected to be decoded in the second phase of the project.-VNA