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Nature Biotechnology 23, 482–487 (1 April 2005) | doi:10.1038/nbt1082

Improving the nutritional value of Golden Rice through increased pro-vitamin A content

Jacqueline A Paine , Catherine A Shipton , Sunandha Chaggar , Rhian M Howells , Mike J Kennedy , Gareth Vernon , Susan Y Wright , Edward Hinchliffe , Jessica L Adams , Aron L Silverstone & Rachel Drake

'Golden Rice' is a variety of rice engineered to produce β-carotene (pro-vitamin A) to help combat vitamin A deficiency, and it has been predicted that its contribution to alleviating vitamin A deficiency would be substantially improved through even higher β-carotene content. We hypothesized that the daffodil gene encoding phytoene synthase (psy), one of the two genes used to develop Golden Rice, was the limiting step in β-carotene accumulation.