title: Molecular breeding of Osfer 2 gene to increase iron nutrition in rice grain.
abstract: Rice being a staple food, contains little iron in the edible grain. To increase the iron nutrition in rice grains, our present study highlights the first time development of high iron rice grain by exploring the endosperm specific overexpression of endogenous ferritin gene. The gene has been cloned from rice and overexpressed under the control of endosperm specific GlutelinA2 (OsGluA 2) promoter. After genetic transformation of aromatic indica rice cultivar, Pusa-sugandhi II, the milled seeds of resulting T 3 transgenics exhibited 7.8-fold of ferritin overexpression, which contributed to 2.09- and 1.37-fold of iron and zinc accumulation respectively. T 3 seeds demonstrated endosperm specific localization of iron that confirms the tissue specific activity of GluA2 promoter. Transgenic and non-transgenic plants showed no difference in their agronomic traits. Our study suggested that overexpression of rice endogenous ferritin gene is a step ahead toward cisgenic approach and can act as an effective tool for iron biofortification.
authors.affiliation: Plant Molecular Biology and Biotechnology Laboratory, Department of Botany, University of Calcutta, Kolkata, India.
authors.forename: Soumitra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Paul
authors.forename: Nusrat
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ali
authors.forename: Dipak
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Gayen
authors.forename: Swapan K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Datta
authors.forename: Karabi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Datta
mesh_terms: D019470:Biolistics; D015139:Blotting, Southern; D032621:DNA Shuffling / Q000379:methods*; D005293:Ferritins / Q000235:genetics*; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D017343:Genes, Plant / Q000235:genetics*; D005822:Genetic Vectors / Q000235:genetics; D007501:Iron / Q000378:metabolism*; D012275:Oryza / Q000235:genetics*; D010641:Phenotype; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified; D019655:Quantitative Trait, Heritable; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012639:Seeds / Q000235:genetics*; D014170:Transformation, Genetic; D015032:Zinc / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D005293:Ferritins; D007501:Iron; D015032:Zinc