For the past three years, Washington University evolutionary plant biologist is studying rice planting in north of Thailand to explore the genetic diversity of one of the world's oldest and most important food crops.

Farmers hand-cultivate rice from seeds varieties their ancestors have saved for thousands of years. No high-yield hybrid plants or genetically modified seeds exist there - leaving intact a treasure-trove of rice varieties sprinkled among small villages.

Her goal is to help protect unique varieties of native rice while improving the yield of a grain that feeds more than half of the world's 6.4 billion people. "When a plant is domesticated, it loses 80 percent of the genetic diversity of the wild plant," she said. "That's why it's so important to preserve the wild ancestor."

Thailand is an exception to GM rice. Only about one-fifth of its rice crop comes from high-yielding hybrids. In remote mountainous regions of Thailand, India, Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam, many villagers still cultivate their own special strains of local rice.

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