Enhancing carotenoid biosynthesis in rice endosperm by metabolic engineering.

Most cereal grains contain small amounts of dietary carotenoids. Thus, vitamin A deficiency (VAD) is common in third-world countries where the nutrition (of the population) depends on a single staple crop such as rice. Thus, considerable research effort has been dedicated to achieving sustainable and economical production of carotenoids in crops (Paine et al., 2012). Plant carotenoids are isoprenoid-derived molecules, and isoprenoids are produced via the mevalonate (MVA) or plastidial 2-C-methyl-D-erythritol 4-phosphate (MEP) routes, both giving rise to isopentenyl diphosphate (IPP) (Hemmerlin et al., 2012). This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.