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Vitamin A deficiency (VAD) is a serious public health problem in South Asia particularly in Bangladesh. Indica rice as a major staple in the country completely lacks vitamin A or compounds with provitamin A activity after milling. A combination of transgenes has been introduced enabling biosynthesis of provitamin A in the endosperm of a restorer line using biolistic system of transformation. The rice seed-specific glutelin promoter (Gt-1 P) was used to drive the expression of phytone synthase (psy), while lycopene b-cyclase (lcy) and phytoenedesaturase (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 CaMV35sP driven hph (hygromycinphosphotransferase) gene. Molecular analysis demonstrated stable integration and expression of the transgenes. The variable segregation pattern in T1 generation indicated single to multiple insertions of the transgenes in the genome. This is the first report of the development of a transgenic restorer line with carotenogenic pathway into the endosperm for use of hybrid rice improvement.

This article 'Plant Regeneration and Screening From Long-Term NaCl-Stressed Rice Callus' appeared in the International Rice Research Newsletter series, created by the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI). The primary objective of this publication was to expedite communication among scientists concerned with the development of improved technology for rice and for rice based cropping systems. This publication will report what scientists are doing to increase the production of rice in as much as this crop feeds the most densely populated and land scarce nations in the world.