The Wild Relative of Rice: Genomes and Genomics

Q. Zhang and R.A. Wing (eds.), Genetics and Genomics of Rice, Plant Genetics and Genomics: Crops and Models 5, DOI 10.1007/978-1-4614-7903-1_2, © Springer Science+Business Media New York 2014 The wild species of the genus Oryza serve as a virtually untapped reservoir of genetic diversity that can be used to improve the world’s most important food crop—rice. The genus is composed of two domesticated ( O . sativa and O . glaberrima ) and 22 wild species [ 68 ] and represents between 15 and 25 million years of evolutionary diversifi cation. In this chapter we will describe the current status of the genetic and genomic applications of the genus Oryza toward the penultimate goal of helping to solve the 9 billion people question—i.e., how can we grow enough food to feed more than 9 billion human inhabitants under 40 years [ 52 ]? 1 The Genus Oryza : Broadening the Gene Pool of Rice—Exploitation of Diversity of the Wild Species Germplasm