Metabolic engineering of rice endosperm towards higher vitamin B1 accumulation

Rice is a major food crop to approximately half of the human population. Unfortunately, starchy endosperm, which remaining portion seed after polishing, contains limited amounts micronutrients. Here, it shown that this particularly case for thiamin (vitamin B1). Therefore, tissue-specific metabolic engineering approach was conducted, aimed at enhancing level specifically in endosperm. To achieve this, three biosynthesis genes, THIC, THI1 and TH1, controlled by strong endosperm-specific promoters, were employed obtain engineered rice lines. The approaches included ectopic expression THIC alone, combination with (bigenic) or combined both TH1 (trigenic). Determination intermediates reveals impact on endosperm biosynthesis. results show an increase polished up threefold compared WT, stable upon cooking. These findings confirm potential enhance de novo tissue aid steering future biofortification endeavours.