Monsanto launched the rice-research.org public database in June of 2000 to provide access to the Monsanto draft rice genome sequences to publicly funded, public researchers. Almost 800 researchers registered to use these data. Monsanto applauds the work carried out in the last two years and the data that has been published so far.
At the end of 2002, the International Rice Genome Sequencing Project (IRGSP) completed the Japanese rice variety Nipponbare genome sequence at Phase II or at finished quality. More that 500 Mb of these sequences are available in public databases and the final finished sequence will follow soon afterwards - please refer to the IRGSP sites for updates (e.g. http://rgp.dna.affrc.go.jp/cgi-bin/statusdb/seqcollab.pl or http://www.tigr.org/tdb/e2k1/osa1/.)
More than 90% of the sequences contained in the Monsanto draft rice genome sequence data can now also be found in the public databases. Monsanto is proud of having aided the efforts of the IRGSP in its use of our sequence data, our BACs, and other related data.
Given the accelerated progress of the public sequencing project, the Monsanto rice genome sequence site ceased operations on December 30, 2002. The unique role that the Monsanto rice genome site played in support of public research is no longer needed.
