Open AccessEnrichment of cereal protein lysine content by altered tRNA lys coding during protein synthesis
Author(s) -
Wu Xing Rong,
Chen Zhi Hong,
Folk William R.
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
plant biotechnology journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.525
H-Index - 115
eISSN - 1467-7652
pISSN - 1467-7644
DOI - 10.1046/j.1467-7652.2003.00017.x
Subject(s) - lysine , biology , amino acid , transfer rna , protein biosynthesis , crop , biochemistry , food science , population , storage protein , agronomy , rna , gene , demography , sociology
Summary The world's major crops are deficient in lysine and several other amino acids essential for human and animal nutrition. Increasing the content of these amino acids in cereals, our major source of dietary energy, can help feed a global population whose reliance upon dietary protein is growing faster than crop yields. Here we document the heritable expression in rice, the world's major cereal crop, of tRNA lys species that introduce lysine at alternative codons during protein synthesis, resulting in a significant enrichment of the lysine content of proteins in rice seeds without changing the types or quantities of the seed storage proteins.