Open AccessEngineering rice with lower grain arsenic
Author(s) -
Deng Fenglin,
Yamaji Naoki,
Ma Jian Feng,
Lee SangKyu,
Jeon JongSeong,
Martinoia Enrico,
Lee Youngsook,
Song WonYong
Publication year - 2018
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 - 10.1111/pbi.12905
Subject(s) - biology , oryza sativa , genetically modified rice , phloem , chromosomal translocation , transgene , genetically modified crops , crop , agronomy , arsenic , staple food , shoot , gene , oryza , poaceae , horticulture , botany , agriculture , biochemistry , ecology , materials science , metallurgy
Summary Arsenic (As) is a poisonous element that causes severe skin lesions and cancer in humans. Rice ( Oryza sativa L.) is a major dietary source of As in humans who consume this cereal as a staple food. We hypothesized that increasing As vacuolar sequestration would inhibit its translocation into the grain and reduce the amount of As entering the food chain. We developed transgenic rice plants expressing two different vacuolar As sequestration genes, Sc YCF 1 and Os ABCC 1 , under the control of the RC c3 promoter in the root cortical and internode phloem cells, along with a bacterial γ‐glutamylcysteine synthetase driven by the maize UBI promoter. The transgenic rice plants exhibited reduced root‐to‐shoot and internode‐to‐grain As translocation, resulting in a 70% reduction in As accumulation in the brown rice without jeopardizing agronomic traits. This technology could be used to reduce As intake, particularly in populations of South East Asia suffering from As toxicity and thereby improve human health.