Recent progress on molecular breeding of rice in China

Molecular breeding of rice for high yield, superior grain quality, and strong environmental adaptability is crucial for feeding the world’s rapidly growing population. The increasingly cloned quantitative trait loci and genes, genome variations, and haplotype blocks related to agronomically important traits in rice have provided a solid foundation for direct selection and molecular breeding, and a number of genes have been successfully introgressed into mega varieties of rice. Here we summarize China’s great achievements in molecular breeding of rice in the following five traits: high yield, biotic stress resistance, abiotic stress resistance, quality and physiology. Further, the prospect of rice breeding by molecular design is discussed.