Regulation must be revolutionized.

Unjustified and impractical legal requirements are stopping genetically engineered crops from saving millions from starvation and malnutrition, says Ingo Potrykus.

From the concept of totipotency to biofortified cereals.

I was a college teacher when opportunity opened a path into academia. A fascination with totipotency channeled me into research on tissue culture. As I was more interested in contributions to food security than in scientific novelty, I turned my attention to the development of genetic modification technology for cereals. From my cell culture experience, I had reasons not to trust Agrobacterium for that purpose, and I developed direct gene transfer instead. In the early 1990s, I became aware of the problem of micronutrient deficiency, particularly vitamin A deficiency in rice-eating populations. Golden Rice, which contains increased amounts of provitamin A, was probably instrumental for the concept of biofortification to take off. I realized that this rice would remain an academic exercise if product development and product registration were not addressed, and this is what I focused on after my retirement. Although progress is slowly being made, had I known what this pursuit would entail, perhaps I would not have started. Hopefully Golden Rice will reach the needy during my lifetime.

Bioengineered 'golden' indica rice cultivars with beta-carotene metabolism in the endosperm with hygromycin and mannose selection systems.

Vitamin-A deficiency (VAD) is a major malnutrition problem in South Asia, where indica rice is the staple food. Indica-type rice varieties feed more than 2 billion people. Hence, we introduced a combination of transgenes using the biolistic system of transformation enabling biosynthesis of provitamin A in the endosperm of several indica rice cultivars adapted to diverse ecosystems of different countries. The rice seed-specific glutelin promoter (Gt-1 P) was used to drive the expression of phytoene synthase (psy), while lycopene beta-cyclase (lcy) and phytoene desaturase (crtI), fused to the transit peptide sequence of the pea-Rubisco small subunit, were driven by the constitutive cauliflower mosaic virus promoter (CaMV35S P). Transgenic plants were recovered through selection with either CaMV35S P driven hph (hygromycin phosphotransferase) gene or cestrum yellow leaf curling virus promoter (CMP) driven pmi (phophomannose isomerase) gene. Molecular and biochemical analyses demonstrated stable integration and expression of the transgenes. The yellow colour of the polished rice grain evidenced the carotenoid accumulation in the endosperm. The colour intensity correlated with the estimated carotenoid content by spectrophotometric and HPLC analysis. Carotenoid level in cooked polished seeds was comparable (with minor loss of xanthophylls) to that in non-cooked seeds of the same transgenic line. The variable segregation pattern in T1 selfing generation indicated single to multiple loci insertion of the transgenes in the genome. This is the first report of using nonantibiotic pmi driven by a novel promoter in generating transgenic indica rice for possible future use in human nutrition.

Nutritionally enhanced rice to combat malnutrition disorders of the poor.

Major deficiency disorders, including vitamin A deficiency, are especially common in countries in which rice is the staple food. In response to the devastating effects of vitamin A deficiency, which may include blindness and, even death, "Golden Rice" has been developed to deliver this nutrient to those populations who need it most. The case of Golden Rice is used to demonstrate the challenges of radical GMO opposition, consumer acceptance, and regulation of biotechnology-derived foods.

Lessons from the 'Humanitarian Golden Rice' project: regulation prevents development of public good genetically engineered crop products.

Compared to a non-Genetically Engineered (GE) variety, the deployment of Golden Rice has suffered from a delay of at least ten years. The cause of this delay is exclusively GE-regulation. Considering the potential impact of Golden Rice on the reduction in vitamin A-malnutrition, this delay is responsible for an unjustifiable loss of millions of lives, mostly children and women. GE-regulation is also responsible for the fact that no public institution can deliver a public good GE-product and that thus we have a de facto monopoly in favour of a few potent industries. Considering the forgone benefits from prevented public good GE-products, GE-regulation is responsible for hundreds of millions of lives, all of them, of course, in developing countries. As there is no scientific justification for present GE-regulation, and as it has, so far, not prevented any harm, our society has the urgent responsibility to reconsider present regulation, which is based on an extreme interpretation of the precautionary principle, and change it to science-based regulation on the basis of traits instead of technology. GE-technology has an unprecedented safety record and is far more precise and predictable than any other 'traditional' and unregulated breeding technology. Not to change GE-regulation to a scientific basis is considered by the author 'a crime against humanity'.

The private sector's role in public sector genetically engineered crop projects.

There is widespread interest within academia to work on public good genetically engineered (GE) projects to the benefit of the poor, especially to use GE-technology to contribute to food security. Not a single product from this work has reached the market. The major cause is GE-regulation, which prevents use of the technology for public good beyond proof-of-concept (Potrykus, I. (2010) Lessons from the Humanitarian Golden Rice project: Regulation prevents development of public good GE-products (these Proceedings)). There is, however, another key problem responsible for the lack of deployment of public good GE-plants: the public sector is incompetent and disinterested for work beyond proof-of-concept, and has neither capability nor funding to develop GE-plant products and introduce them to growers and consumers. The private sector has the expertise for both and in the right circumstances can be ready to support the public sector in public good enterprises. Public-private-partnerships are the best solution so far, to advance exploitation of GE-technology to the benefit of the poor. Public-private-partnerships are viable, however, only, if there is mutual interest from the private sector and initiative and funding from the public sector.

Fighting iron deficiency anemia with iron-rich rice.

OBJECTIVE: Iron deficiency is estimated to affect about 30% of the world population. Iron supplementation in the form of tablets and food fortification has not been successful in developing countries, and iron deficiency is still the most important deficiency related to malnutrition. Here we present experiments that aim to increase the iron content in rice endosperm and to improve its absorption in the human intestine by means of genetic engineering. METHODS: We first introduced a ferritin gene from Phaseolus vulgaris into rice grains, increasing their iron content up to twofold. To increase iron bioavailability, we introduced a thermo-tolerant phytase from Aspergillus fumigatus into the rice endosperm. In addition, as cysteine peptides are considered major enhancers of iron absorption, we over-expressed the endogenous cysteine-rich metallothionein-like protein. RESULTS: The content of cysteine residues increased about sevenfold and the phytase level in the grains about one hundred and thirtyfold, giving a phytase activity sufficient to completely degrade phytic acid in a simulated digestion experiment. CONCLUSIONS: This rice, with higher iron content, rich in phytase and cysteine-peptide has a great potential to substantially improve iron nutrition in those populations where iron deficiency is so widely spread.

Golden Indica and Japonica rice lines amenable to deregulation.

As an important step toward free access and, thus, impact of GoldenRice, a freedom-to-operate situation has been achieved for developing countries for the technology involved. Specifically, to carry the invention beyond its initial "proof-of-concept" status in a Japonica rice (Oryza sativa) cultivar, we report here on two transformed elite Indica varieties (IR64 and MTL250) plus one Japonica variety Taipei 309. Indica varieties are predominantly consumed in the areas with vitamin A deficiency. To conform with regulatory constraints, we changed the vector backbone, investigated the absence of beyond-border transfer, and relied on Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated transformation to obtain defined integration patterns. To avoid an antibiotic selection system, we now rely exclusively on phosphomannose isomerase as the selectable marker. Single integrations were given a preference to minimize potential epigenetic effects in subsequent generations. These novel lines, now in the T(3) generation, are highly valuable because they are expected to more readily receive approval for follow-up studies such as nutritional and risk assessments and for breeding approaches leading to locally adapted variety development.

Two cassava promoters related to vascular expression and storage root formation.

Cassava ( Manihot esculenta Crantz) storage roots, organs accumulating large amounts of starch, develop from primary roots via secondary growth. The availability of promoters related to storage-root formation is a prerequisite for engineering root traits in cassava. Two cDNAs, c15 and c54, were identified from a storage-root cDNA library of cassava MCol1505 via differential screening. The transcripts of c15 and c54 were detected in storage roots but not in leaves by Northern analysis. Homology analysis of the deduced amino acid sequences showed that C15 is likely to be related to cytochrome P450 proteins, which are involved in the oxidative degradation of various compounds, while C54 may be related to Pt2L4, a cassava glutamic acid-rich protein. The promoter regions of c15 and c54 were isolated from the corresponding clones in a cassava genomic library. A 1,465-bp promoter fragment ( p15/1.5) of c15 and a 1,081-bp promoter region ( p54/1.0) of c54 were translationally fused to the uidA reporter gene, and introduced into cassava and Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh. The expression patterns of p15/1.5::uidA and p54/1.0::uidA in transgenic plants showed that both promoters are predominantly active in phloem, cambium and xylem vessels of vascular tissues from leaves, stems, and root systems. More importantly, strong beta-glucuronidase activity was also detected in the starch-rich parenchyma cells of transgenic storage roots. Our results demonstrate that the two promoters are related to vascular expression and secondary growth of storage roots in cassava.

Transfer and expression of an artificial storage protein (ASP1) gene in cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz).

In order to increase the nutritional quality of cassava storage roots, which contain up to 85% starch of their dry weight, but are deficient in protein, a synthetic ASP1 gene encoding a storage protein rich in essential amino acids (80%) was introduced into embryogenic suspensions of cassava via Agrobacterium-mediated gene transfer. Transgenic plants were regenerated from suspension lines derived from hygromycin-resistant friable embryogenic callus lines. Molecular analysis showed the stable integration of asp1 in cassava genome and its expression at RNA level in transformed suspension lines. PCR and Southern analyses proved the transgenic nature of the regenerated plant lines. The expression of asp1 at RNA level was demonstrated by RT-PCR. The ASP1 tetramer could be detected in leaves as well as in primary roots of cultured transgenic plants by western blots. These results indicate that the nutritional improvement of cassava storage roots may be achieved by constitutive expression of asp1 in transgenic plants.

Golden Rice: introducing the beta-carotene biosynthesis pathway into rice endosperm by genetic engineering to defeat vitamin A deficiency.

To obtain a functioning provitamin A (beta-carotene) biosynthetic pathway in rice endosperm, we introduced in a single, combined transformation effort the cDNA coding for phytoene synthase (psy) and lycopene beta-cyclase (beta-lcy) both from Narcissus pseudonarcissus and both under the control of the endosperm-specific glutelin promoter together with a bacterial phytoene desaturase (crtI, from Erwinia uredovora under constitutive 35S promoter control). This combination covers the requirements for beta-carotene synthesis and, as hoped, yellow beta-carotene-bearing rice endosperm was obtained in the T(0)-generation. Additional experiments revealed that the presence of beta-lcy was not necessary, because psy and crtI alone were able to drive beta-carotene synthesis as well as the formation of further downstream xanthophylls. Plausible explanations for this finding are that these downstream enzymes are constitutively expressed in rice endosperm or are induced by the transformation, e.g., by enzymatically formed products. Results using N. pseudonarcissus as a model system led to the development of a hypothesis, our present working model, that trans-lycopene or a trans-lycopene derivative acts as an inductor in a kind of feedback mechanism stimulating endogenous carotenogenic genes. Various institutional arrangements for disseminating Golden Rice to research institutes in developing countries also are discussed.