Rice with a protein dressing

The gene — isolated from the amaranthus grain that grows in the wild in northern India — had been added to five rice varieties cultivated in India, including IR-72 and Pusa basmati, Chakraborty said. Rice normally contains about seven per cent protein. The gene addition was expected to improve the amount of protein and also the amino-acid content, she said.

Chakraborty said work had also started for introducing the Ama1 gene into cassava and sweet potato, staples of the economically backward in several parts of the world. ‘‘These crops contain only carbohydrates and no protein at all,’’ she pointed out. ‘‘By introducing the Ama1 gene, we expect to make these poor man’s foods more nutritious than they are at present.’’

Chakraborty said that the introduction of the Ama1 gene into the potato had increased its protein content by as much as 45 per cent and yield by 20 per cent. ‘‘We still do not know how exactly this gene does this,’’ admitted Chakraborty.

The protein-enhanced potato, however, is at least a year away from commercial cultivation, since the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee is yet to clear the product. Chakraborty said they would be submitting all the scientific data to the committee soon.

On the controversy over the GM potato, she said it was unfortunate. ‘‘All we did was to enhance the nutritional quality of the potato, the fourth largest crop grown in the world,’’ she said. ‘‘We never claimed it is going to solve malnutrition.’’(Agencies)