Golden rice

Transgenic plants that possess nutritionally enhanced traits are also currently under development. The most recent example of this is found in the case of golden rice, an enriched rice that derives its name from its golden 

In Southeast Asia, an estimated 5 million children develop an eye disease known as xerophthalmia due to vitamin A dehciency every year. Of these, 0.25-0.5 million will eventually go blind. Vitamin A dehciency is also correlated with a weakened immune system and consequentially an increased susceptibility to potentially fatal afflictions, including diarrhea, respiratory diseases, and childhood diseases such as measles. According to statistics compiled by UNICEF, improved vitamin A nutrition could be expected to prevent approximately 1-2 million deaths a year among children aged 1-4, and an additional 0.25-0.5 million deaths during later childhood. 

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The progeny, called Golden Rice , has received massive publicity for its potential to alleviate vitamin A deficiency in developing countries (Potrykus,... 

POTRYKUS I (2001) Golden rice and beyond . Plant Physiol, 125, 1157-61. 

Over-expression and anti-sense constructs of LCYB have been tested in rice and tomato. In Golden Rice, daffodil LCYB was over-expressed but found to be unnecessary for accumulation of carotenes. Only PSY and CRTI are needed to accumulate carotenes and xanthophylls in the endosperm. 

Al-Babili, S. and Beyer, P, Golden rice five years on the road, five years to go Trends Plant Sci. 10, 565, 2005. 

Stein, A.J., Sachdev, H.P.S., and Qaim, M., Potential impact and cost-effectiveness of Golden Rice, Nat. Biotech. 24, 1200, 2006. 

Paine, J.A. et al.. Improving the nutritional value of Golden Rice through increased pro-vitamin A content, Nat. Biotechnol. 23, 482, 2005. 

Al-Babih, S., Hoa, T.T.C., and Schaub, R, Exploring the potential of the bacterial carotene desaturase CrtI to increase the beta-carotene content in Golden Rice, J. Exp. Bot. 57, 1007, 2006. 

The production of fi-carotene-rich crops is an important agricultural topic. The availability of carotenoid biosynthetic genes, as well as new molecular techniques, has opened the doors for metabolic engineering. This has resulted in transgenic plants with improved nutritional quality the development of golden rice [41]. The levels of fi-carotene in the endosperm (1 to 2 p,g fi-carotene/g FW rice endosperm) although higher than wild-type rice, as this is a tissue that normally does not... 

A genetic engineering success is the transfer of genes for synthesis of P-carotene into rice. The resulting "golden rice" contains enough carotene in its endosperm to make a significant contribution to the vitamin A needs of people for whom... 

The case of Golden Rice illustrated the need for imaginative ways to address intellectual property issues ways that do not require years of negotiations, expensive lawyers, or overly complex public/private partnerships to move a crop to market. This is the very large task that CAMBIA and other organizations are now undertaking. 

Ingo potrykus Golden rice rich in p-carotene. 

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