抄録
The whole genome sequence of the Japanese rice cultivar ‘Nipponbare’ were published by the International Rice Genome Sequencing Project (IRGSP) in December 2004. It is the first achievement of encoding the whole genome sequence in cereal crops and monocot plant species, and Japanese researchers greatly contributed to it. The ‘Nipponbare’ genome sequence has used as standard reference information for genome comparisons among rice cultivars and genetic analyses for important agronomic traits such as grain yield, disease resistance, stress tolerance and grain quality in rice. Next generation sequencing (NGS) technology is largely accelerating genetic analysis such as detection and identification of responsible genes involved in the control of the eating and cooking quality, and grain appearance quality traits. Our previous study detected more than 500 quantitative trait loci (QTLs) associated with eating and cooking quality traits by QTL analysis and genome wide association study (GWAS). We identified three responsible genes for the detected QTLs by carrying out additional genetic analysis. Several responsible genes associated with grain appearance quality have also been identified so far by other researchers. The recent significant results of these genetic studies have been used to develop DNA markers for selecting novel cultivars with superior agronomic traits in breeding programs. In the future, before starting development of novel cultivars, this genome prediction procedure could design gene combinations and genome compositions for desirable novel cultivars based on collected information for genome sequences and trait evaluation scores.
