How rice twice became a crop and twice became a weed — and what it means for the future
With the help of modern genetic technology and the
resources of the International Rice GeneBank, which contains more than
112,000 different types of rice, evolutionary biologist Kenneth Olsen has been able to look back in time at the double domestication of rice (in Asia and in Africa) and its double “de-domestication” to form two weedy strains. Olsen predicts the introduction of pesticide-resistant rice will drive ever faster adaptation in weedy rice.