Golden Rice: a solution to fighting Vitamin A deficiency in developing nations Zack Quirk http://pakrice.pk/product/long-grain-386-parboiled-rice/

A major humanitarian issue Lack of vitamin A in diet of developing countries populations Attributed to lack of diversity in diet Can cause permanent blindness and can lead to increased exposure of immuno-dieseases5 5) Potrykus 2001 http://www.vvrsaustralia.com.au/portfolio_item/italy-rice

Possible Solutions Pharmaceutical supplements Change in food diet Expensive and short term solution6 Change in food diet Implementation of Vitamin A rich foods (fruit, meat)6 Genetic engineering of crops6 Golden Rice 6) Stein et al. 2006 https://www.thespruce.com/how-to-cook-rice-995967

Introduction of Golden Rice Genetic engineering of Oryza sativa to produce vitamin A1 Endosperm of rice typically nutrient poor3 1) Al-Baili et al. 2005 3) Beyer et al. 2002 http://www.stilltasty.com/articles/view/71

How is Vitamin A made? Beta-carotene pathway Beyer et al. 2002

Creating Golden Rice First vector: performed in a single transformation, used cDNA of phytoene synthase (psy; daffodil), bacterial phytoene desaturase (crtI; E. uredovora)3 Utilized respective endosperm-specific glutelin and CaMV 35S promoters3 3) Beyer et al. 2002

Creating Golden Rice Cont. Second vector: utilized genes for psy and crtl, but did not have its selectable marker aphIV3 Also used Glutenin promoter3 3) Beyer et al. 2002

Creating Golden Rice Cont.2 Third vector: cDNA of beta-cyclase from daffodil (also with same glutelin promoter)3 Found to be unnecessary for beta-carotene production 3 3) Beyer et al. 2002

Results of Golden Rice Cultivation Initial Strain of golden rice resulted in only 1.6 micrograms of carotenoids per gram of rice3 Not effective enough to combat VAD Normal rice contains 0.8 micrograms of carotenoids per gram of rice8 8) Ye et al. 2000 3) Beyer et al. 2002

Enriching Golden Rice Experimentation for additional vitamin A content per gram of rice Second generation used phytoene synthase (psy) gene from maize instead of daffodil4 Saw greater uptake of carotenoids than first generation (37microg/g; 23-fold increase)4 4) Paine et al. 2005 https://www.theflowerexpert.com/content/mostpopularflowers/morepopularflowers/daffodil https://naturesgist.com/2017/02/18/11-unique-health-benefits-corn/

Implementation of Golden Rice Not released, still in development Concentrated in the Philippines (International Rice Research Institute)7 Primary provision prohibiting commercialization is regulatory process/protocols2 7) Stone et al. 2017 2) Berman et al. 2013 http://www.philrice.net/philippines-to-quadruple-rice-yield-by-2011/

Controversies against utilization of Golden Rice Greenpeace  Believe golden rice will act as ‘Trojan horse’5 GMO critics oppose golden rice to Fight against new technology5 Gain political stature5 5) Potrykus 2001

Future of Golden Rice Prevent misinformation of Golden Rice Proper education of its beneficial properties Anticipated commercial release in 5 years7 Distributed selectively in Philippines7 7) Stone et al. 2016 http://www.thesleuthjournal.com/gmo-golden-rice-flops-reduces-crop-yield/

References Al-Babili, S. & Beyer, P. (2005). Golden Rice- five years on the road- five years to go?, Trends in Plant Science; v. 10, p. 565-573. Berman, J., Zhu, C., Pérez-Massot, E., Arjó, G., Zorilla-López, U., Masip, G., Banakar, R., Sanahuja, G., Farré, G., Miralpeix, B., Bai, C., Vamvaka, E., Sabalza, M., Twyman, R., Bassié, L., Capell, T., & Christou, P. (2013). Can the world afford to ignore biotechnology solutions that address food insecurity?, Plant Molecular Biology; v. 83, p. 5-19. Beyer, P., Al-Babili, S., Ye, X., Lucca, P., Schaub, P., Welsch, R., & Potrykus, I. (2002). Golden Rice: Introducing the Beta-Carotene Biosynthesis Pathway into Rice Endosperm by Genetic Engineering to Defeat Vitamin A Deficiency, The Journal of Nutrition; v. 132, p. 506-510. Paine, J., Shipton, C., Chaggar, S., Howells, R. Kennedy, M., Vernon, G., Wright, S., Hinchliffe, E., Adams, J., Silverstone, A., & Drake, R. (2005). Improving the nutritional value of Golden Rice through increased pro-vitamin A content, Nature Biotechnology; v. 23, p. 482-487. Potrykus, I. (2001). Golden Rice and Beyond, American Society of Plant Physiology; v. 125, p. 1157-1161. Stein, A., Sachdev, H., & Qaim, M. (2006). Potential impact and cost-effectiveness of Golden Rice, Nature Biotechnology; v. 23. Stone, G., & Glover, D. (2017). Disembedding grain: Golden Rice, the Green Revolution, and heirloom seeds in the Philippines, Agricultural Human Values; v. 34, p. 87-102. Ye, X., Al-Babili, S., Klöti, A., Zhang, J., Lucca, P., Beyer, P., & Potrykus, I. (2000). Engineering the Provitamin A (Beta-Carotene ) Biosynthetic Pathway into (Cartenoid-Free) Rice Endosperm, Science; v. 287, p. 303-305.