https://j.people.com.cn/n3/2026/0722/c95952-20480674.html

https://www.vita-journal.com/vita/EN/10.15302/vita.2026.07.0051

A research team led by Wang Kejian at the China National Rice Research Institute has recently achieved a major breakthrough in the field of hybrid rice breeding. They successfully developed a “single-line” hybrid rice variety—named “Yixi No. 1″—that possesses fully normal seed-setting capabilities and maintains a stable cloning efficiency exceeding 99%. This innovative research achievement was published on July 21 in the international academic journal *Vita*, as reported by Xinhua News Agency.

In 2013, Wang’s team launched the “Single-Line Hybrid Rice Exploration Project.” The core objective of the single-line method is to use apomixis to produce genetically identical clone seeds from hybrid crops, thereby fixing heterosis (hybrid vigor) and realizing a system where “a single cross allows for use across subsequent generations.” In 2017, the team successfully established the world’s first apomixis system for hybrid rice and obtained the first hybrid rice clone seeds. However, at that time, the cloning efficiency was merely 5%, and the seed-setting rate was significantly reduced.

After years of research and development, the team has recently achieved a critical breakthrough: the discovery of an endogenous rice gene named “HUAXU.” The study revealed that by ectopically expressing the HUAXU gene in the egg cells of hybrid rice, they could induce efficient parthenogenesis and obtain haploid offspring. Furthermore, by combining this technology with a clonal gamete strategy, a cloning efficiency of nearly 100% was achieved across multiple apomictic lines. This efficiency remained consistently above 99%—and yields stayed at normal levels—even across various hybrid rice varieties, generations, cultivation populations, and large-scale field conditions.