Promising Results from Japan GM Trials of Iron Deficiency Tolerant Rice

Scientists at the University of Tokyo report that the field trials of a transgenic rice line engineered to be tolerant to iron deficiency went well. The trials demonstrated that a transgenic approach to increase the tolerance of rice to low iron availability is feasible and could help improve agricultural productivity in calcareous paddy soils. Iron deficiency is a widespread agricultural problem that reduces plant growth and crop yields.

The transgenic approach was used to produce rice plants with mugineic acid family phytosiderophores (MAs) biosynthesis-related genes from barley. MAs are chelators secreted by graminaceous plants to help roots take up iron. The MAs related genes introduced into the rice cultivar Tsukinohikari include HvNAS1, HvNAAT-A, HvNAAT-B, and/or IDS3.  

The research group reported that there was a stable inheritance of every transgene over at least three generations and that there was no harmful impact on the environment detected. The field trials were conducted on paddy fields in the quarantine area of the Field Science Center of Tohoku University,  Miyagi, Japan.

 The full article is available at http://www.springerlink.com/content/m412wx750257h33l/fulltext.pdf