Rice Functional Genomics Research: Past Decade and Future

Rice (Oryza sativa) is a major staple food crop for more than 3.5 billion people worldwide. Understanding the regulatory mechanisms of complex agronomic traits in rice is critical for global food security. Rice is also a model plant for genomics research of monocotyledons. Thanks to the rapid development of functional genomic technologies, over 2000 genes controlling important agronomic traits have been cloned, and their molecular biological mechanisms have also been partially characterized. Here, we briefly review the advances in rice functional genomics research during the past 10 years, including a summary of functional genomics platforms, genes and molecular regulatory networks that regulate important agronomic traits, and newly developed tools for gene identification. These achievements made in functional genomics research will greatly facilitate the development of green super rice. We also discuss future challenges and prospects of rice functional genomics research.