Abstract
The genome secquence of rice, which is one of the main crops of the world and important for survival of human kind in the future, was completed in 2002, though the database is in a draft stage. In the genomic sequence of rice, we have identified 36 different MIP-encoding genes and 2 pseudogenes. We examined and described all the MIPs in the genome sequence of rice. Twelve different genes belong to PIP subfamily and the number is as similar as Arabidopsis and Zea. As low similarities were found between 3 PIP2s and the other PIP2s, the 3 PIP2s might be categorized into a new PIP subgroup after functional analysis. Rice-Corn ortholog analysis revealed two new MIP-encoding genes in the genomic sequence of corn. Comparison of them with Arabidopsis thaliana and Zea mays resulted useful information on structure and function of several subfamiles of MIPs.
