We are happy to report that the plenary papers presented during the Fourth International Rice Genetics Symposium have been published in Rice Genetics IV. The book has been mailed to all the participants. Extended abstracts of papers presented in the concurent sessions and posters will be published early next year in a separate volume entitled "Advances in Rice Genetics."

This year we saw major breakthrough in sequencing the rice genome. Both public and private research teams have played a key role in sequencing genome of elite rice cultivars. A large amount of sequencing data is already available in the public domain. The availability of rice sequence data has ushered in the era of functional genomics. Mutants induced through transposable elements, T-DNA insertions and deletions, EST, BAC and YAC libraries have become important genetic resources for structural and functional genomics. New initiatives have been established to link structural or sequence data and gene function through forward and reverse genetics. New high-throughput methods are being developed for expression analysis. Microarrays are being used to identify candidate genes involved in biotic and abiotic stress pathways. Discovery of such genes and their manipulation would be another important step in rice genetics and breeding.

G.S. Khush, Chairman
A. Hirai, Co-Chairman