Geneva, Switzerland – Rice is a staple food in half of the world, especially in countries in Asia, South America, and Africa. However, rice is low in thiamin (vitamin B1), and further nutrients are lost during the refining process. This can lead to nutritional deficiencies for many people in these countries. Now, researchers from the University of Geneva, in collaboration with a team from ETH Zurich and Taiwan’s National Chung Hsing University (NCHU), have cracked the code for increasing the vitamin B1 content of rice without compromising overall yield.
Most vitamins must be obtained from the diet. Meeting those needs isn’t that difficult if you eat a varied and balanced diet.in the case of primarily dependent populations, or only Deficiencies such as thiamin are more common in rice. B1 deficiency, also known as beriberi, can lead to neurological and cardiac complications.
“Previous biofortification efforts by other teams have been successful in increasing the vitamin B1 content of leaves and bran (the outer layer of rice grains), but the vitamin B1 content of ready-to-eat rice grains is “In our study, we specifically targeted an increase in vitamin B1 content in the endosperm,” Teresa Fitzpatrick, lead author of the new study, explains in a media release.
Scientists have created a rice line that expresses a gene that isolates vitamin B1 in a controlled manner within the rice endosperm, the tissue that makes up most of the food we eat. After greenhouse cultivation, harvesting, and grain milling, these lines were found to have increased vitamin B1 content.
This line was then sown in an experimental field in Taiwan and cultivated for several years. When comparing modified and unmodified plants, aspects such as plant height, number of stems per plant, grain weight, and fertility are almost similar. The only difference? The modified line contains 3 to 4 times more vitamin B1.
“Most of this type of research is carried out using crops grown in greenhouses. It is important to note that we have been able to grow strains under real field conditions, and that the expression of modified genes influences agronomic traits. The fact that it is stable over long periods of time without giving up is very promising,” said Wilhelm Gruissem, Professor Emeritus at ETH. Distinguished Professor and Yushan Fellow at National Chuo University, Zurich.
Approximately 1/4 cup of this rice provides nearly one-third of the recommended daily intake of thiamine for adults. Looking ahead, next steps include applying this technology to commercial varieties. First, regulatory steps related to biofortification through genetic engineering must be carried out before plants can be cultivated.
Nutritionist’s opinion
In the United States and other Western countries where rice is not eaten often, processed rice with high thiamin levels is likely not necessary. But for countries that eat it more often, it could be a game-changing addition to the food supply.
Many people in Asian and African countries usually include more rice in their diets due to their culture and food availability. For many people, it’s either eating rice or not eating it at all. This is not the first time rice has been genetically modified to increase its nutritional value.
In the 1990s, engineers developed golden rice, which contains beta-carotene. Beta-carotene is a plant pigment that is converted to vitamin A and is found in large amounts in foods such as carrots and sweet potatoes.
Engineers were able to make changes by adding two enzymes. Like regular rice, golden rice requires no special cultivation methods and has the same overall yield.
Vitamin A deficiency is very common around the world, especially in countries like Bangladesh and the Philippines. Thiamine biofortification has the same goal as developing golden rice, just with different nutrients. If scientists can do this at scale, it could improve the health of millions of people around the world.
Research results will be published in a magazine Plant Biotechnology Journal.
