Keshav Narayan PaiMsc I

DOS in BotanyManasagangotri

Mysore

Golden Rice

Content• Introduction• Need for Development• Why Rice?• Golden Rice Project• Goals • Technology• Production of Golden Rice 1 and 2• Challenges ahead• Advantages • Disadvantage• Controversies.• Conclusion• References

Introduction Golden Rice is a

variety of Oryza sativa rice produced through genetic engineering to biosynthesize beta carotene.

Main purpose is to provide pro-vitamin A to third world, developing, countries where malnutrition and vitamin A deficiency are common

Classification of Oryza sativa Common Name: Asian Rice

Kingdom: Plantae Phylum: Anthophyta Monocot Class: Commelinids Order: Poales Family: Poaceae Genus: Oryza Species: O. sativaBinomial Nomenclature: Oryza sativa

Need for development Milled rice is

provitamin-a-free

Symptoms of a provitamin-A-free diet Night Blindness

Xerophthalmia

Malnutrition

Cont…. Fatal susceptibility to

childhood diseases (e.g. measles) and general infections (diarrhoea, respiratory diseases)

Need for development:•It was conducted with the goal of helping children who suffer from vitamin A deficiency (VAD).

•Children and pregnant women are at highest risk.

•In pregnant women, Lactation deficiency, maternal mortality up to 40%.

•In 2005, 190 million children and 19 million pregnant women, in 122 countries, were estimated to be affected by VAD.

•VAD is responsible for 1–2 million deaths, 5,00,000 cases of irreversible blindness and millions of cases of xerophthalmia annually.

Why rice?•Global staple food.•Cultivated for over

10,000 years•Rice provides as much

as 80 percent or more of the daily caloric intake of 3 billion people, which is half the world’s population

Who Began the Golden Rice Project?

• Started in 1982 by Ingo Potrykus-Professor emeritus of the Institute for Plant Sciences

• Peter Beyer-Professor of Centre for Applied Biosciences, Uni. Of Freiburg, Germany

• Funded by the Rockefeller Foundation, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, and Syngenta, a crop protection company. • Golden Rice Humanitarian

Board-responsible for the global development, introduction and free distribution of Golden Rice to target countries.

Goals: More is What We Aim For• Mutate rice plants to produce carotenoids,

or organic pigments, specifically β-carotene (pro-vitamin A) in the endosperm, the edible part of the grain

Make Golden Rice accessible locally, free of

charge to farmers, who are able to grow, save, consume, replant and locally sell Golden Rice

Vitamin A(Retinol)

IPP

Geranylgeranyl diphosphate

Phytoene

Lycopene

-carotene(vitamin A precursor)

Phytoene synthase

Phytoene desaturase

Lycopene-beta-cyclase

ξ-carotene desaturase

Daffodil gene

Single bacterial gene;performs both functions

Daffodil gene

-Carotene Pathway Problem in PlantsIPP

Geranylgeranyl diphosphate

Phytoene

Lycopene

-carotene(vitamin A precursor)

Phytoene synthase

Phytoene desaturase

Lycopene-beta-cyclase

ξ-carotene desaturase

Rice lacksthese enzymes

Com

plet

e V

itam

in A

Pat

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Technology:

Genes Transferred:

Production of Golden Rice 1

How Does It Work?• The addition of 2 genes in the

rice genome will complete the biosynthetic pathway▫ 1. Phytoene synthase (psy) –

derived from daffodils▫ 2. Lycopene cyclase (crt1) –

from soil bacteria Erwinia uredovora

• Produces enzymes and catalysts for the biosynthesis of carotenoids (β-carotene) in the endosperm• Presence of pro-vitamin A gives rice grains a yellowish-orange color, thus, the name ‘Golden Rice’

Golden Rice 2•In 2005, a team of researchers at

biotechnology company, Syngenta, produced a variety of golden rice called "Golden Rice 2". They combined the phytoene synthase gene from maize with crt1 from the original golden rice. Golden rice 2 produces 23 times more carotenoids than golden rice (up to 37 µg/g)

GR2 GR1

Wild-Type

Advantages:• Golden rice provides more quantity of Vitamin-A.

• Easy distribution, when released to needy.

• Cheaper option to supply Vitamin-A requirement compared to other supplementary measures.

• Sustainable option as once released for common cultivation, can be cultivated in every growing season by farmer saved seeds, therefore, no need for yearly budgetary investments for distribution.

Disadvantages:Health:•May cause allergies or fail to

perform desired effect. •Supply does not provide a substantial quantity as the

recommended daily intake.Environment:•Loss of Biodiversity. May become a gregarious weed

and endangers the existence of natural rice plants.•Genetic contamination of natural, global staple food.Culture:•Some people prefer to cultivate and eat only white

rice based on traditional values and spiritual benefits.

Controversies• On August 8, 2013 an

experimental plot of golden rice being grown in the Philippines was uprooted by protesters.Mark Lynas, a famous former anti-GMO activist,

Controversies In many parts of

the world including India there was protest against the Golden Rice.

Cartoons against golden rice

Challenges Ahead:•Resynthesize through latest

technology.•Gene transfer to tropical local

varieties.•Level of expression of Beta-carotene.•Technological improvements.•Nutritional studies are essential.•Make golden rice assessable locally, free

of charge to farmers-who are able to grow, save, consume, replant and locally sell golden rice.

Research•University of California• Rutgers University• University of Nebraska and many other

universities in the entire world.

Conclusion:• Golden rice was said to be the first

recombinant DNA tech crop that was unarguably beneficial.

• Golden Rice is the brainchild of Profs Ingo Potrykus and Peter Beyer , who in a collaborative effort were able to show that production of β-carotene could be turned on in rice grains using a minimum set of transgenes.

References:• "

Golden Rice: All Glitter, No Gold,” Greenpeace International, March 15, 2005 .

• . "Almost Everything You Wanted to Know About Golden Rice,"goldenrice.org

•Golden Rice Humanitarian Board © 2005. The Golden Rice Project» pdf

•http://goldenrice.org/Content2-How/how1_sci.html.

Thank you