Pms1, a locus for photoperiod sensitive genic male sterility in rice, was identified and mapped to chromosome 7 in previous studies. Here we report an effort to identify the candidate genes for Pms1 by comparative sequencing of BAC clones from two cultivars Minghui 63 and Nongken 58, the parents for the initial mapping population. Annotation and comparison of the sequences of the two clones resulted in a total of five potential candidates which should be functionally tested. We also conducted com-parative analysis of sequences of these two cultivars with two other cultivars, Nipponbare and 93-11, for which sequence data were available in public databases. The analysis revealed large differences in sequence composition among the four genotypes in the Pms1 region primarily due to retroelement activity leading to rapid recent growth and divergence of the genomes. High levels of polymorphism in the forms of indels and SNPs were found both in intra- and inter-subspecific comparisons. Dating analysis using LTRs of the retroelements in this region showed that the substitution rate of LTRs was much higher than reported in the literature. The results provided strong evidence for rapid genomic evolution of this region as a consequence of natural and artificial selection. Pms1, a locus for photoperiod sensitive genic male sterility in rice, was identified and mapped to chromosome 7 in previous studies. Here we report an effort to identify the candidate genes for Pms1 by comparative sequencing of BAC clones from two cultivars Minghui 63 and Nongken 58 , the parents for the initial mapping population. Annotation and comparison of the two of the clones resulted in a total of five potential candidates which should be functionally tested. We also conducted com-parative analysis of sequences of these two cultivars with two other cultivars , Nipponbare and 93-11, for which sequence data were available in public databases. The analysis revealed large differences in sequence composition among the four genotypes in the Pms1 region were due to retroelement activity leading to rapid recent growth and divergence of the genomes. High levels of polymorphism in the forms of indels and SNPs were found both in intra- and inter-subspecific comparisons. Dating analysis using LTRs of the retroelements in this region showed that the substitution rate of LTRs was much higher than reported in the literature. The results provided strong evidence for rapid genomic evolution of this region as a consequence of natural and artificial selection.