Long, shiny rice grains are considered to be a measure of
rice quality in many parts of the world. Like most qualities of any living
being, the length of the rice grain also is encoded by genes. Research group in
China have narrowed down to a single gene responsible for the grain length
(Wang et al., 2015). The gene,
Os07g0603300, is present on
Chromosome 7 of rice (
Oriza sativa L.)
genome. When the gene was duplicated in tandem i.e if two copies of the genes
were present back to back, the length of the grains increased. Best part of the
exercise was that there was no decrease in the yield of this rice plant. After
breeding this rice line with other varieties of rice can further increase the
grain quality.
Problem remains however of the acceptance of this GM
variety. Humans have been changing the genetic compositions of plants/animals
since we started domestication them by breeding them. Genetic engineering is
just a targeted breeding. Hope someday people would understand.
Reference
Wang,
Xudong, Z., Jiayang, L., Qian Qian, Y.W., Guosheng, X., Jiang, H., Liang, J.,
Hong, Y., Jie, X., Yunxia, F., et al.
(2015). Copy number variation at the GL7 locus contributes to grain size
diversity in rice. Nature Genetics.
