The research team of the University of Washington announced today that they will take the lead in carrying out research projects to decipher the corn gene map. Experts said that the knowledge gained through this deciphering project will help cultivate good corn varieties. Richard Wilson, head of the University of Washington research group, said that they have received $295 million in scientific research grants from the U.S. Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy to decipher the conventional genetic code for corn varieties code-named "B73." It is estimated that the number of genes in this maize variety is 5-6 million, which is about 2 times the total number of human genes. Wilson said that the goal of deciphering the genetic map of corn is to deeply understand how genes control the growth mechanism of corn crops. Once the corn gene map has been deciphered, the role of the gene can be understood, even the specific function of each part of the gene. In addition, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Center for Genetic Research is also using $25 million in funding to prepare for the deciphering of another unusual type of corn. Wilson emphasized that studies on deciphering maize gene maps, in addition to helping to better understand the control mechanism of plant genes by maize genes, will also help breeders to develop more varieties of maize, such as high-yielding, pest-resistant, and resistant varieties. Drought, as well as varieties that improve the nutritional content of corn. For the average person, this means that there will be higher quality, higher yield and lower cost corn foods. Maize is the second crop to be genetically sequenced. In August of this year, international scientific teams from 10 countries have cooperated in deciphering the genetic map of rice. Wilson said that rice was selected as the first crop to be genetically deciphered, mainly because its genetic map is relatively simple. In fact, as far as plants are concerned, scientists had already previously decoded a weed called "Arabidopsis." This weed grows rapidly in the laboratory, and the number of genes is small and simple. The genetic map has also become a reference sample for scientists to decipher other more complex plants. It is reported that the sequencing and decipherment work on maize genes will formally begin on December 1 this year. Information on the sequencing of research information will be released to the public on the Internet in early 2006. It is expected that the entire maize gene sequencing and gene-breaking will last for 3 years.