 792 million

people are
malnourishe
d (2000)
 10 million
children die
of
malnutrition
every year
 2-3 million
die because
of VAD,
500.000 get
blind
 400 million
poor
consume
mainly rice
Vitamin A importance
 Vision
 Epithelial growth and
repair
 Bone growth
 Reproduction and
embryonic
development
 Maintenance of the
surface linings of the
eyes
 Epithelial integrity of
respiratory, urinary
and intestinal tracts
 Regulation of adult
genes
 Immune response
Vitamin A
production
Just middle part
missing in
endosperm:
Phytoene
Synthase,
Phytoene
Desaturase, Zeta-
Carotene
Desaturase
The
construc
t
A lot of
work has
been
done
since the
intitial
idea...
The “best“ construct: GR
II
 Endosperm-specific promotor Glutelin-promotor Gt1p
 transit peptide tp to target plastid
 Nos-Terminator , terminating synthesis (nopaline synthase)
 carotene-desaturase from Erwinia uredovora crtI,
catalyzing mutiple steps in carotenoid synthesis
 Zea mays phytoene synthase
 Maize ubiquitin-promotor ubi1p
 phosphomannose-isomerase marker-System „Positech“,
avoiding antibiotic-marker
 RB and LB: RB, T-DNA right/left border sequence
The new Golden Rice

 Golden Rice up to 37
µg/g carotenoid of
which 31 µg/g is β-
carotene (first
generation Golden Rice
1.6 µg/g )
 $3.00 - 19.40 daly
(costs to save one life) –
from $200 cost-effective
(World bank)
 India: 5,000-40,000
Criticism

 Golden Rice could

contaminate wild
rice forever
 better answers to the
problem of VAD
 Encourages diet based on one
food
 Designed to help introducing
GMOs
 Unknown side-effects
Micronutrients and
Bioavailablity
 Micronutrients
can enhance
soil quality
 Various factors
determine
availablity
 A lot of
breeding-
potential
Status and Outlook

 Introduction to the
Philippines by 2012,
then Bangladesh
 Yield: about 5t - low?
Storage – depends on traits
Conversion factor – first
experiments successfull
 GR with additional nutritional
traits:
vitamin E, iron and zinc, high-
quality protein or essential amino
acids
Personalized
medicine

 Trend of the
future:
personalized
diets for
problematic
SNPs
 Nutrigenomics:
Interaction of
dietary
components and
resulting
proteonomic
and
metabolomic
changes
 Nutrigenetics:
Understanding
Gene-based
differences in
response to
What should
be done
 Spread
biofortified
food
to Africa
 Adopt
regulatory
process
 Shift public
opinion
 Focus
research and
agriculture
lesser on
profits
 Establish not
only bio, but
also quality
Sources
 All Slides:
Salim Al-Babili and Peter Beyer, „Golden Rice – five years on the road – five years to go?“, Review: Trends in Plant Science,
Vol. 10 No. 12 December 2005
Roukayatou Zimmermann, Matin Qaim: „Potential health benefits of Golden Rice – a Philippine case study“ – Food policy 29
(2004)
Ross M. Welch, Robin D. Graham: „Breeding for micronutrients in staple food crops from a human nutrition perspective“,
Journal of Experimental Botany, Vol. 55, No. 396
Peter Bayer et al.: „Golden Rice: Indroducing the β-Carotene Biosynthesis Pathway into Rice Endosperm by Genetic
Engineering to Defeat Vitamin A Defiency“, Symposium The Journal of Nutrition, 2002 American Society for Nutritional
Science
The Golden Rice project – www.goldenrice.org
 Slide 3: http://www.cehjournal.org/extra/40_15_01.html , Photos: Simon Franken, Allen Foster, Donald McLaren & Gordon
Johnson
Alfred Sommer (ophthalmologist) http://www.jhsph.edu/publichealthnews/press_releases/sommer_vitA.html
 Slide 7:
DER SPIEGEL 48/2008 http://www.spiegel.de/media/0,4906,19439,00.pdf
„Kampagne für gentechnisch veränderten Reis am Scheideweg“ Christoph Then, www.scouting-biotechnology.net, Januar
2009, im Auftrag von foodwatch e. V. http://www.foodwatch.de/e10/e1026/e19431/e23453/GoldenRice_deutsch_final_ger.pdf
„All that glitters is not Gold: The false hope of Golden Rice“, Greenpeace, May 2005,
http://www.greenpeace.org/raw/content/international/press/reports/all-that-glitters-is-not-gold.pdf
 Slide 8: www.greenpeace.org
 Slide 9: http://www.goldenrice.org/Content3-Why/why3_FAQ.html
 Slide 11: Rahul Shetty MD, http://open.medicdrive.org/blog/2007/09/26/surfing-the-waves-of-medicine-two-point-oh/
 Slide 12: Google Earth, Terrametrics, DigitalGlobe
Undata, www.thematicmapping.org