Abstract
Provitamin A accumulates in the grain of Golden Rice as a result of genetic transformation. In developing countries, where vitamin A deficiency prevails, grain from Golden Rice is expected to provide this important micronutrient sustainably through agriculture. Since its original production, the prototype Golden Rice has undergone intense research to increase the provitamin A content, to establish the scientific basis for its carotenoid complement, and to better comply with regulatory requirements. Today, the current focus is on how to get Golden Rice effectively into the hands of farmers, which is a novel avenue for public sector research, carried out with the aid of international research consortia. Additional new research is underway to further increase the nutritional value of Golden Rice.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 565-573 |
| Number of pages | 9 |
| Journal | Trends in plant science |
| Volume | 10 |
| Issue number | 12 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Dec 2005 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:The continued development of GR to meet the challenge of providing a provitamin A biofortified rice and the complement of micronutrients necessary to combat additional micronutrient deficiency disorders will require the close collaboration of international research consortia willing to amalgamate their complementary expertise and knowledge in biochemistry, transformation technologies, breeding, deregulation, nutrition and end-user outreach activities. Most importantly, National Agricultural Research Institutions in countries with VAD need to be involved early on in the process, not only because of their complementary knowledge but also to create national ownership of the project. Two consortia have recently been formed. One is HarvestPlus ( http://www.harvestplus.org ), which targets the nutritional improvement of a wide variety of crop plants, mostly through breeding. The other is in the Grand Challenges in Global Health initiative ( http://www.gcgh.org/subcontent.aspx?SecID=390 ), which is funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, targeting banana, cassava, sorghum and rice, mostly through genetic modification. Such consortia are expected to continue to develop into focal points for a novel type of ‘Green Revolution’ in which the well-known issues of food nutritional content, which had been neglected in the past, will be addressed.
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Plant Science