The Arizona Genomics Institute (AGI) was founded in 2002 when it built and distributed a BAC-based physical map of the rice genome (Oryza sativa vg. japonica, cv. Nipponbare), and led the US effort to sequence rice chromosomes 3 and 10, as part of the 10 nation, $200M International Rice Genome Sequencing Project (IRGSP). Since then, AGI has either lead or played significant roles in 100s of genome sequencing projects that include Maize and the 27 species of the genus Oryza.