The GR38,a japonica-prone rice with wide spectrum and strong restoring,was developed from the cross of Guangzhongai,a wide compatibility China indica rice,and Balilla,a Italian japonica rice without restoring ability.GR38 performed strong restoring ability to most of cytoplasmic male sterile(CMS) lines and was different from other restorer lines available only to some of CMS.SSR analysis revealed that a restorer gene of GR38 was located on the long arm of chromosome 1.It was different from any reported restorer locus according to their chromosomal locations and may be a new one.In addition,GR38 has showed strong combining ability in grain yield and significant heterosis.The restorer line breeding way created from the cross of distant japonica rice and wide compatibility indica was useful to broad the scope of restorer genes resources and genetic base,and to break the limitation of the restoring genes from a few of Southeasten Asian varieties such as IR24 and its progeny.