Global wild rice germplasm resources conservation alliance: World Wild-Rice Wiring

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Wild relatives of crop are key genetic resources serving as diversity reservoirs for crop improvement under changing environments. Rice (Oryza sativa) is one of the most important crops in the world, providing staple food for half of the world’s population. Wild rice is thus a critical germplasm resource for sustained global food security, ensuring high production yields, improved quality, and stress resistance in the face of climate change. Wild rice is closely related to domesticated rice and has a rich genetic diversity and exceptional adaptability to extreme environments. It has played a pivotal role in the history of rice hybridization and has become a key resource for rice breeding programs. The identification of wild-type cytoplasmic male sterility resources paved the way for the achievement of the ‘‘three lines’’ goal in hybrid rice, leading to a significant increase in rice yields. In addition, the use of resistance alleles found in wild rice is making rice production more resilient to losses caused by environmental stresses. However, wild rice germplasm resources are threatened due to habitat destruction and other anthropogenic factors. At the same time, the lack of centralized distribution of wild rice has hampered the sharing of basic information on wild rice resources and the utilization and conservation of wild rice in each country, as well as collaboration among scientists.