Conference: 2nd International Symposium on Rice Functional Genomics, Tucson, AZ, November 2004

水稻是世界上最重要的粮食作物，也是基因组学研究的重要实验系统。水稻基因组序列在2004年12月的完成，将为探索水稻中所有大约5万个基因的功能特征开启一个令人兴奋的新篇章。描述这些基因的系统方法将有助于解剖和理解控制诸如产量、生物和非生物胁迫、生殖障碍、表观遗传学和开花时间等复杂性状的调控网络和进化选择事件。为了庆祝水稻基因组的完成，并了解结构、功能和进化基因组学研究的最新进展，第二届水稻功能基因组学年度研讨会将于2004年11月15日至17日在亚利桑那州图森举行。国际组委会包括来自9个不同国家的16名水稻科学家。将涵盖的主题包括功能基因组学、比较基因组学、基因组测序和注释、遗传学和水稻育种、蛋白质组学和代谢组学、生物和非生物胁迫以及水稻疾病。会议结束后，将有10人参加为期一周的细菌人工染色体（BAC）文库构建和筛选、基因组物理作图、测序、注释和微阵列分析等方面的培训。将优先考虑来自发展中国家的研究人员、年轻的研究人员和来自小型机构的科学家。

Rice is the most important food crop in the world and an important experimental system for genomics research. The completion of the genome sequence of rice in December 2004 will open a new and exciting chapter in the quest to functionally characterize all of the approximately 50,000 genes in rice. A systematic approach to characterizing these genes will allow dissection and understanding of regulatory networks and evolutionary selection events controlling such complex traits as yield, biotic and abiotic stresses, reproductive barriers, epigenetics and flowering time. To celebrate the completion of the rice genome and learn about the latest developments in structural, functional and evolutionary genomics research, the Second Annual Symposium on Rice Functional Genomics will be held in Tucson, Arizona, on November 15 - 17, 2004. The international organizing committee includes 16 rice scientists from 9 different countries. Themes to be covered include functional genomics, comparative genomics, genome sequencing and annotation, genetics and rice breeding, proteomics and metabolomics, biotic and abiotic stress, and diseases of rice. After the meeting, up to 10 will be hosted for a week of training on Bacterial Artificial Chromosome (BAC) library construction and screening, physical mapping of genomes, sequencing, annotation, and microarray analysis. Priority will be given to researchers from developing countries, young investigators and scientists from small institutions.