
White rice (the polished grains) contain low concentrations of iron and zinc. Image: Shutterstock
A new strain of iron-rich rice could bring hope to billions.
Scientists from the PLoS ONE.
“If children do not have iron throughout their development, you can have greatly impaired mental development.”
Former conventional breeding programs had aimed to increase the levels of iron in rice to 14 parts per million (ppm). “(Conventional breeding) had failed to reach that target by a long shot. The best they could get to was six ppm.”
Dr Johnson focused on the nicotianamines, a group of genes which regulate the amount of iron taken up the plants. The genes are usually turned “˜on’ and “˜off’ according to the amount of iron required by the plant at a given time.
By permanently switching these genes “˜on’, the rice plants continually take up iron from the soil. The researchers then used the
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