1. Golden Rice: a solution to fighting Vitamin A deficiency in developing nations
Zack Quirk

2. A major humanitarian issue
Lack of vitamin A in diet of developing countries populations
Attributed to lack of diversity in diet
Can cause permanent blindness and can lead to increased exposure of immuno-dieseases5
5) Potrykus 2001

3. Possible Solutions Pharmaceutical supplements Change in food diet
Expensive and short term solution6
Change in food diet
Implementation of Vitamin A rich foods (fruit, meat)6
Genetic engineering of crops6
Golden Rice
6) Stein et al. 2006

4. Introduction of Golden Rice
Genetic engineering of Oryza sativa to produce vitamin A1
Endosperm of rice typically nutrient poor3
1) Al-Baili et al. 2005
3) Beyer et al. 2002

5. How is Vitamin A made?
Beta-carotene pathway
Beyer et al. 2002

6. Creating Golden Rice
First vector: performed in a single transformation, used cDNA of phytoene synthase (psy; daffodil), bacterial phytoene desaturase (crtI; E. uredovora)3
Utilized respective endosperm-specific glutelin and CaMV 35S promoters3
3) Beyer et al. 2002

7. Creating Golden Rice Cont.
Second vector: utilized genes for psy and crtl, but did not have its selectable marker aphIV3
Also used Glutenin promoter3
3) Beyer et al. 2002

8. Creating Golden Rice Cont.2
Third vector: cDNA of beta-cyclase from daffodil (also with same glutelin promoter)3
Found to be unnecessary for beta-carotene production 3
3) Beyer et al. 2002

9. Results of Golden Rice Cultivation
Initial Strain of golden rice resulted in only 1.6 micrograms of carotenoids per gram of rice3
Not effective enough to combat VAD
Normal rice contains 0.8 micrograms of carotenoids per gram of rice8
8) Ye et al. 2000
3) Beyer et al. 2002

10. Enriching Golden Rice
Experimentation for additional vitamin A content per gram of rice
Second generation used phytoene synthase (psy) gene from maize instead of daffodil4
Saw greater uptake of carotenoids than first generation (37microg/g; 23-fold increase)4
4) Paine et al. 2005

11. Implementation of Golden Rice
Not released, still in development
Concentrated in the Philippines (International Rice Research Institute)7
Primary provision prohibiting commercialization is regulatory process/protocols2
7) Stone et al. 2017
2) Berman et al. 2013

12. Controversies against utilization of Golden Rice
Greenpeace 
Believe golden rice will act as ‘Trojan horse’5
GMO critics oppose golden rice to
Fight against new technology5
Gain political stature5
5) Potrykus 2001

13. Future of Golden Rice Prevent misinformation of Golden Rice
Proper education of its beneficial properties
Anticipated commercial release in 5 years7
Distributed selectively in Philippines7
7) Stone et al. 2016

14. References
Al-Babili, S. & Beyer, P. (2005). Golden Rice- five years on the road- five years to go?, Trends in Plant Science; v. 10, p
Berman, J., Zhu, C., Pérez-Massot, E., Arjó, G., Zorilla-López, U., Masip, G., Banakar, R., Sanahuja, G., Farré, G., Miralpeix, B., Bai, C., Vamvaka, E., Sabalza, M., Twyman, R., Bassié, L., Capell, T., & Christou, P. (2013). Can the world afford to ignore biotechnology solutions that address food insecurity?, Plant Molecular Biology; v. 83, p
Beyer, P., Al-Babili, S., Ye, X., Lucca, P., Schaub, P., Welsch, R., & Potrykus, I. (2002). Golden Rice: Introducing the Beta-Carotene Biosynthesis Pathway into Rice Endosperm by Genetic Engineering to Defeat Vitamin A Deficiency, The Journal of Nutrition; v. 132, p
Paine, J., Shipton, C., Chaggar, S., Howells, R. Kennedy, M., Vernon, G., Wright, S., Hinchliffe, E., Adams, J., Silverstone, A., & Drake, R. (2005). Improving the nutritional value of Golden Rice through increased pro-vitamin A content, Nature Biotechnology; v. 23, p
Potrykus, I. (2001). Golden Rice and Beyond, American Society of Plant Physiology; v. 125, p
Stein, A., Sachdev, H., & Qaim, M. (2006). Potential impact and cost-effectiveness of Golden Rice, Nature Biotechnology; v. 23.
Stone, G., & Glover, D. (2017). Disembedding grain: Golden Rice, the Green Revolution, and heirloom seeds in the Philippines, Agricultural Human Values; v. 34, p
Ye, X., Al-Babili, S., Klöti, A., Zhang, J., Lucca, P., Beyer, P., & Potrykus, I. (2000). Engineering the Provitamin A (Beta-Carotene ) Biosynthetic Pathway into (Cartenoid-Free) Rice Endosperm, Science; v. 287, p