Rice transformation for crop improvement and functional genomics

Although several japonica and some indica varieties of rice have already be en transformed. then is significant scope for improvement in the technology for transformation of economically important indica varieties. Successful transformation of rice employing Agrobacterium and recent advances in direc t gene transfer by biolistics, evidenced by transfer of multiple genes, hav e removed some of the serious impediments in the area of gene engineering. The transfer of genes for nutritionally important biosynthetic pathway has provided many opportunities for performing metabolic engineering. Other use ful genes for resistance against pests, diseases and abiotic stresses have also been transferred to rice. But the limited knowledge about important ta rget genes requires rapid progress in the field of functional genomics. Tra nsgenic rice system can be applied to isolate new genes, promoters, and enh ancers and their functions could be unravelled. The combination of novel re gulatory systems for targeted expression and useful new genes should pave t he way for improvement of rice and other cereals. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.