Golden Rice is a genetically engineered rice variety that produces beta-carotene, which the body converts to vitamin A. It was developed to help address vitamin A deficiency in developing countries. The Golden Rice Project inserted genes for phytoene synthase and lycopene cyclase enzymes into rice, allowing it to synthesize beta-carotene in the edible endosperm. Golden Rice 2 produces 23 times more carotenoids than the original. Potential advantages include providing a sustainable source of vitamin A, but there are also concerns about allergies, expression levels, and impacts on biodiversity and culture. Further research and development is still needed before Golden Rice can be effectively deployed.

1. Golden Rice

2. Content
• Introduction
• Need for Development
• Why Rice?
• Golden Rice Project
• Goals
• Technology
• Production of Golden Rice 1 and 2
• Challenges ahead
• Advantages
• Disadvantage
• Controversies.
• Conclusion
• References

3. Introduction
 GoldenRiceisavarietyofOryza
sativa riceproducedthroughgenetic
engineeringtobiosynthesizebeta
carotene.
 Mainpurposeistoprovidepro-
vitaminAtothirdworld,developing,
countrieswheremalnutritionand
vitaminAdeficiencyarecommon

4. ClassificationofOryzasativa
 CommonName:AsianRice
 Kingdom:Plantae
 Phylum:Anthophyta
 Monocot
 Class:Commelinids
 Order:Poales
 Family:Poaceae
 Genus:Oryza
 Species:O.sativa
BinomialNomenclature:Oryzasativa

5. Need for development
 Milled rice is provitamin-a-
free

6. Symptomsofaprovitamin-A-freediet
 NightBlindness

7. Xerophthalmia

8. Malnutrition

9. Cont….
 Fatalsusceptibilitytochildhooddiseases(e.g.measles)and
generalinfections(diarrhoea,respiratorydiseases)

10. Need for development:
• Itwasconductedwiththegoalofhelpingchildrenwhosufferfrom
vitaminAdeficiency(VAD).
• Childrenandpregnantwomenareathighestrisk.
• Inpregnantwomen,Lactationdeficiency,maternalmortalityupto40%.
• In2005,190millionchildrenand19millionpregnantwomen,in122countries,
wereestimatedtobeaffectedbyVAD.
• VADisresponsiblefor1–2milliondeaths,5,00,000casesofirreversible
blindnessandmillionsofcasesofxerophthalmiaannually.

11. Why rice?
• Global staple food.
• Cultivated for over 10,000
years
• Rice provides as much as
80 percent or more of the
daily caloric intake of 3
billion people, which is half
the world’s population

12. Who Began the Golden
Rice Project?
• Started in 1982 by Ingo Potrykus-Professor emeritus of the
Institute for Plant Sciences
• Peter Beyer-Professor of Centre for Applied Biosciences, Uni. Of
Freiburg, Germany
• Funded by the Rockefeller Foundation, the Swiss Federal Institute
of Technology, and Syngenta, a crop protection company.
• Golden Rice Humanitarian Board-
responsible for the global
development, introduction and free
distribution of Golden Rice to target
countries.

13. Goals: More is What We Aim For
• Mutate rice plants to produce carotenoids, or
organic pigments, specifically β-carotene (pro-
vitamin A) in the endosperm, the edible part of
the grain
Make Golden Rice accessible locally, free of
charge to farmers, who are able to grow, save,
consume, replant and locally sell Golden Rice
Vitamin A
(Retinol)

14. IPP
Geranylgeranyl diphosphate
Phytoene
Lycopene
 -carotene
(vitamin A precursor)
Phytoene synthase
Phytoene desaturase
Lycopene-beta-cyclase
ξ-carotene desaturase
Daffodil gene
Single bacterial gene;
performs both functions
Daffodil gene
-Carotene Pathway Problem in Plants
IPP
Geranylgeranyl diphosphate
Phytoene
Lycopene
 -carotene
(vitamin A precursor)
Phytoene synthase
Phytoene desaturase
Lycopene-beta-cyclase
ξ-carotene desaturase
Rice lacks
these enzymes
CompleteVitaminAPathway

15. Technology:

16. Genes Transferred:

17. Production of Golden Rice 1

18. How Does It Work?
• The addition of 2 genes in the rice
genome will complete the biosynthetic
pathway
▫ 1. Phytoene synthase (psy) – derived
from daffodils
▫ 2. Lycopene cyclase (crt1) – from soil
bacteria Erwinia uredovora
• Produces enzymes and catalysts for
the biosynthesis of carotenoids (β-
carotene) in the endosperm
• Presence of pro-vitamin A gives rice grains a yellowish-orange
color, thus, the name ‘Golden Rice’

19. Golden Rice 2
• In 2005, a team of researchers at biotechnology
company, Syngenta, produced a variety of
golden rice called "Golden Rice 2". They
combined the phytoene synthase gene from
maize with crt1 from the original golden rice.
Golden rice 2 produces 23 times more
carotenoids than golden rice (up to 37 µg/g)

20. GR2 GR1
Wild-Type

21. Advantages:
• Golden rice provides more
quantity of Vitamin-A.
• Easy distribution, when released to needy.
• Cheaper option to supply Vitamin-A requirement compared to
other supplementary measures.
• Sustainable option as once released for common cultivation,
can be cultivated in every growing season by farmer saved
seeds, therefore, no need for yearly budgetary investments for
distribution.

22. Disadvantages:
Health:
• May cause allergies or fail to
perform desired effect.
• Supply does not provide a substantial quantity as the
recommended daily intake.
Environment:
• Loss of Biodiversity. May become a gregarious weed
and endangers the existence of natural rice plants.
• Genetic contamination of natural, global staple food.
Culture:
• Some people prefer to cultivate and eat only white
rice based on traditional values and spiritual
benefits.

23. Controversies
• On August 8, 2013 an
experimental plot of golden
rice being grown in the
Philippines was uprooted by
protesters.Mark Lynas, a
famous former anti-GMO
activist,

24. Controversies
In many parts of the
world including India
there was protest
against the Golden
Rice.

25. Cartoons against golden rice

26. Challenges Ahead:
• Resynthesize through latest
technology.
• Gene transfer to tropical local
varieties.
• Level of expression of Beta-carotene.
• Technological improvements.
• Nutritional studies are essential.
• Make golden rice assessable locally, free of
charge to farmers-who are able to grow, save,
consume, replant and locally sell golden rice.

27. Research
• University of California
• Rutgers University
• University of Nebraska
and many other universities
in the entire world.

28. Conclusion:
• Golden rice was said to be the first
recombinant DNA tech crop that was
unarguably beneficial.
• Golden Rice is the brainchild of Profs Ingo
Potrykus and Peter Beyer , who in a
collaborative effort were able to show that
production of β-carotene could be turned on
in rice grains using a minimum set of
transgenes.

29. References:
• "Golden Rice: All Glitter, No Gold,” Greenpeace
International, March 15, 2005 .
• . "Almost Everything You Wanted to Know
About Golden Rice,"goldenrice.org
• Golden Rice Humanitarian Board © 2005. The
Golden Rice Project» pdf
• http://goldenrice.org/Content2-
How/how1_sci.html.