Researchers Develop Rice Packed With Iron & Zinc

Scientists have produced rice with up to four times more iron and twice as much zinc compared to conventional rice.

AsianScientist (Sep. 8, 2011) – Scientists from the Australian Center for Plant Functional Genomics (ACPFG) have produced rice with high enough iron levels that it meets daily recommended requirements for iron intake.

The results of this research – rice that has up to four times more iron and twice as much zinc as conventional rice – was published yesterday in the journal PLoS ONE.

The team, based at the Universities of Adelaide, Melbourne and South Australia, and Flinders University, and funded by the Australian Research Council and HarvestPlus, genetically modified rice to increase the amount of iron that is transported to the endosperm of the grain (the part that people eat).

“Rice is the primary source of food for roughly half of the world’s population, particularly in developing countries, yet the polished grain, also known as white rice, contains insufficient concentrations of iron, zinc and pro-vitamin A to meet daily nutritional requirements,” said Dr. Alex Johnson from ACPFG.

Dr. Johnson explained that a lack of genetic variation in rice has hindered efforts by conventional breeding programs to address iron levels.

Using a biotech approach in glasshouse experiments, the researchers were able to reach levels of zinc and iron in rice grain that would otherwise be impossible to achieve, he said.

Work is now underway to test this technology in field trials.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), iron deficiency is the most common and widespread nutritional disorder in the world and affects more than two billion people – or 30 percent of the world’s population.

Symptoms of iron deficiency include poor mental development, depressed immune function and anemia.

“The development of new cereal varieties containing increased concentrations of iron and other essential micronutrients, an approach known as biofortification, offers an inexpensive and sustainable solution to the chronic micronutrient malnutrition problems that currently plague people in developing countries,” he said.

The article can be found at: Johnson AAT et al. (2011) Constitutive Overexpression of the OsNAS Gene Family Reveals Single-Gene Strategies for Effective Iron- and Zinc-Biofortification of Rice Endosperm.

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Source: Australian Center for Plant Functional Genomics.
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