Japan began the first project to sequence the entire rice genome in 1991 identifying the order of 430 million molecules of the rice DNA. Six years later, in September 1997, scientists and researchers from Japan, China, Korea, the United States, the European Union and other countries convened in the International Plant Molecular Meeting in Singapore to explore a multi-year effort to sequence the rice genome.

A subsequent meeting followed in February 1998 under the coordination of the Japan Rice Genome Program (JRGP) in Tsukuba, Japan. In this meeting, ten research teams around the world agreed to formally launch what was called the International Rice Genome Sequencing Project (IRGSP). This international consortium sets its primary objective to completely sequence the rice genome with gene annotation within 10 years.

Further developments in favor of the global endeavor surfaced when in April 2000, U.S. firm Monsanto Company announced to the public that it had completed a rough draft of its own sequencing project on rice genome. Moreover, Monsanto will share its data with the consortium by providing its rice sequence files, as well as the tools used in the process of its sequencing. In 1997, IRGSP calculated completion of the rice genome would take ten years and cost more than US$200 Million. With the data available from the said firm, IRGSP is expected to achieve their goal much sooner at a lower cost.

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CAMBIA Rice TransGenomics