IRRI launches new IRG collection to accelerate linking trait discovery with breeding

The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) has unveiled a new resource, the Released Variety Panel (RVP). This panel includes over 130 sequenced rice varieties. The seed is available upon request by scientists and breeders through the International Rice Genebank (IRG), and the sequences are available on the SNP-Seek Database.

The release of this new set, facilitated by IRRI’s Rice Breeding Innovations department, aims to increase the awareness and utilization of plant types and genotypes of improved rice varieties grown by rice farmers. These include types of rice that are popular in certain rice-growing countries, or are more resilient to climate change effects.

Through the High-Density Rice Array (HDRA) and the 3,000 Rice Genomes Project (3k RGP), many upstream scientists have become more familiar with IRG’s collection of germplasm/landraces, having identified many valuable traits/genes/QTLs/donor accessions. However, the plant traits and alleles of modern/improved varieties that breeders have developed may differ from the diversity panels.

In addition, the RVP can facilitate linking upstream rice research with impact pathways. This can help provide benchmarks for varieties with several beneficial traits. Since many of the accessions in the RVP are currently grown by rice farmers, using these lines as benchmarks could increase the likelihood of upstream research results reaching farmers’ fields.

Funding and support for developing the RVPs and the sequencing efforts include various partners and donors, including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF),  the Zegar Family Foundation (New York University), the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), and the Government of Shenzhen, China. Crop Trust provided support for maintaining the Genebank seed collections.

How to access RVP and request seeds

This link provides access to the RVP list and descriptions of accessions in the Genesys platform. You can initiate a seed request by clicking ‘Add to my list’ and ‘Request for material’ and entering your details.

An alternative way will soon be available through the GRIN-Global platform. Seeds can be requested by creating a profile, selecting ‘list search,’ listing the RVP set of accessions (IRGC numbers 141079-141216), and sorting your preferred seeds.

To process the seed request, an authorized person at your organization is required to agree to the Standard Material Transfer Agreement (SMTA), an import permit, and a phytosanitary certificate. Depending on your country/organization, you may be asked for a payment to help cover Genebank-related costs. Once all requirements are fulfilled, the seed request will be processed, which may take around six weeks from ordering to shipping.

The SNP (single nucleotide polymorphism) sets can be found in the International Rice Informatics SNP-Seek Database. SNP sets for each released variety are currently distributed among different variety sets or download files but will be merged into one common dataset upon the release of SNP-Seek version 3. For SNP-seek-related inquiries, please contact iric@irri.org.

Other available information on the Released Variety Panel is some phenotype data found at Zenodo, an open-source repository for research data. This phenotypic data was generated by undergraduate interns with their IRRI hosts through a research experience program coordinated by Purdue University and supported by the National Science Foundation International Research Experiences for Students (NSF-IRES).