Golden Rice on a Mission

Peter Beyer, Albert-Ludwigs-University of Freiburg, Germany

IFPRI Policy Seminar, April 2011

Golden Rice is a geneticallymodified plant

Golden Rice cannnot be achieved by breeding

The transfer of two biosynthetic genesis required coding for

a plant enzyme (phytoene synthase)

a bacterial phytoene desaturase (CrtI)

Prototype

Ye et al., (2000) Science 287:303

Prototypes were improvedPrototype

Golden Rice 1Promoter exchange, high-throuput transformation

Golden Rice 2Exchange of the phytoene synthase gene daffodil → maize

1.6 µg/g

5-7 µg/g

31 µg/g

Paine et al. (2005) Nat. Biotechnol.23:482-7.

9 events into 11 selected varieties (MAS), preceding event selectionsuch as:

IR64 & IR36: Mega-varieties with broad Asian coverage BRRI dhan 29 : The most popular boro rice variety in BangladeshPSB Rc82: The most popular rice variety in the PhilippinesOS 6561: Most popular in VietnamChehirang: Leading variety in Indonesia Swarna Important in India

Towards a useful product: breeding of ß-carotene loci into popular Asian varieties

Partner Institutions:o IRRI (Int.)o Philrice (Philippines)o BRRI (Bangladesh)o CLRRI (Vietnam)o IARI (India)o TNAU (India)o DRR (India)

Event selection (All single locus intact ingtegration)

Which event(s) produce consistent levels of povitamin A across cultivars?

Which event(s) reproduce consistently the characteristics of the recurrent parents?

Which level of provitamin A must be delivered by GR to be effective? Human bioavailability studyConducted at TUFTS University

Bioconversion determined:3.8-to-1

Tang et al., (2009) Golden Rice is an effective source of vitamin A. Am J Clin Nutr89:1776–83

The big question

Event selection completed

Golden Rice Licensee Network members beinginformed of lead& backup event.

All other events arebeing destroyed

IRRI, March 2009

From a technical perspective we are now „ready to go“ tofulfill „The Mission“:

“…to effect the free transfer of the Golden Rice technology into local crop varieties within appropriate biosafety and regulatory structures, for provision to defined resource poor farmers who may grow, locally sell or consume the resultingcrop (the “Mission”)”1

Vitamin A-DeficiencyAreas

Golden Rice Humanitarian Board Mission Statement