About the Cover
On the Front Cover: The Poaceae (grass family) includes such agriculturally important species as maize, wheat, rice, barley, sorghum, rye, and sugarcane. Since rice, because of several attributes, is scheduled in 2004 to be the next plant species to be completely sequenced, we have chosen Dorset Trapnell's beautiful painting of rice (Oryza sativa cv Nipponbare) as the cover illustration for this month's Special Issue devoted to the Grasses. Rice has a small genome (estimated at 430 Mb) compared with other grasses such as maize, wheat, and barley. Moreover, rice is a major food source for over one-half of the world's population, especially in the developing world. Thus, information generated from the rice genome project will be utilized to increase the quality and quantity of rice production throughout the world. In addition, the members of the Poaceae are closely related, with their genomes sharing extensive synteny. Thus, information gained from a rice genome project can be leveraged to other grass species, increasing the gain from this single genomic sequencing project. (Artwork courtesy of Sue Wessler.)
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Copyright © 2007 by the American Society of Plant Biologists
