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Science 14 January 2000:
Vol. 287. no. 5451, pp. 303 - 305
DOI: 10.1126/science.287.5451.303
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Reports

Engineering the Provitamin A (beta -Carotene) Biosynthetic Pathway into (Carotenoid-Free) Rice Endosperm

Xudong Ye, 1*dagger Salim Al-Babili, 2* Andreas Klöti, 1ddagger Jing Zhang, 1 Paola Lucca, 1 Peter Beyer, 2§ Ingo Potrykus 1§

Rice (Oryza sativa), a major staple food, is usually milled to remove the oil-rich aleurone layer that turns rancid upon storage, especially in tropical areas. The remaining edible part of rice grains, the endosperm, lacks several essential nutrients, such as provitamin A. Thus, predominant rice consumption promotes vitamin A deficiency, a serious public health problem in at least 26 countries, including highly populated areas of Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Recombinant DNA technology was used to improve its nutritional value in this respect. A combination of transgenes enabled biosynthesis of provitamin A in the endosperm.

1 Institute for Plant Sciences, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, CH-8092 Zurich, Switzerland.
2 University of Freiburg, Center for Applied Biosciences, D-79104 Freiburg, Germany.
*   These authors contributed equally to this work.

dagger    Present address: Agracetus Monsanto, 8520 University Green, Middleton, WI 53562, USA.

ddagger    Present address: Paradigm Genetics, 104 Alexander Drive, Research Triangle Park, NC 27709-4528, USA.

§   To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: beyer{at}uni-freiburg.de (P.B.) and ingo.potrykus{at}ipw.biol.ethz.ch (I.P.)

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