Golden Rice Essay

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GOLDEN RICE Golden Rice, a genetically modified organism which produces beta-carotene (a precursor of vitamin A) through biosynthesis is how the variety of Oryza sativa rice was produced. The research for this genetically modified organism was conducted so that areas with a shortage of dietary vitamin A could produce and consume a fortified food (foods that have added micronutrients). There are currently 140 million pre-school children and 7 million pregnant women globally suffering from Vitamin A deficiency (VAD) <http://ageconsearch.umn.edu/ bitstream/25381/1/cp060192.pdf>. Of these numbers there are three million which die every year; affecting public health, economic productivity, and individual well-being. VAD (apart from increasing child mortality) can lead to increases in measles incidences, visual problem, and blindness. Ingo Portykus (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology) and Peter Beyer (University of Freiburg) were the first developers the GM rice. The scientific details of the rice were first published during 2000 in a book called “Science”<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Golden_rice>. The genetic engineering discovery was a by-product of an eight year procedure undergone by Portykus and Beyer. Although in 2005 Golden Rice 2, a new variety of Golden Rice was developed. The beta-carotene produced by the Golden Rice 2 was up to 23 times more than the originally developed golden rice. Golden Rice was modified so that the beta-carotene (produced in the leaves of normal rice plants; through photosynthesis) will be produced within the edible part of the golden rice grain, known as the endosperm. This is conceived by the insertion of two genes [‘phytoene synthase’ from Daffodils and crt1 from the ‘Erwinia uredovora’ (soil bacterium)] into the genome of the rice bacterium where the desired traits of the other plants are inserted into the Plasmid

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