Atherosclerotic red rice and giant embryos with reduced blood pressure have entered the laboratory breeding stage and are expected to be on the public table in the near future. This is the news that the reporter learned yesterday from the opening ceremony of the "2007 Shanghai Science and Technology Going to the Countryside" series of service activities. It is reported that the "high-protein rice breeding" undertaken by the Laboratory of Plant Molecular Genetics of the Normal University has been listed as a key project of the Municipal Science and Technology Commission.
According to the project leader, Professor Li Jianyu of SNU, the cultivation of high-protein rice is of great significance in many aspects. The protein and amino acid content of common rice is low, so raising the protein content and quality of rice can make people “eat†a higher level of nutrition.
More valuable is that Professor Li also added various "functions" to these rice. The special function of giant-embryo rice is to lower blood pressure. In addition to being rich in nutrients, this rice also contains a reduced blood pressure of buprofyric acid in its germ. "This rice breeding technology is relatively mature and is currently in the stage of expanding breeding," said Li Jianyu.
Red rice is a natural colored rice with anti-atherosclerosis and anti-oxidant function. It is rich in carotene, flavonoids, alkaloids and other biologically active substances and iron, zinc, calcium and other mineral elements. Prof. Li crossed the high-protein but low-yield red rice with common rice to produce a "high-yielding red rice." It is expected that this rice technology will mature in the near future.
Currently, Professor Li is also developing "soybean rice" that may lower blood fat and lower plasma cholesterol. According to reports, this is a kind of genetically modified food. It fully considers safety issues in research and development, and excludes resistance genes and reporter genes. It is expected to pass the safety assessment of the Ministry of Agriculture a few years later. The health-care function of this rice is derived from the glycinin gene, a protein that can prevent and control "rich guilty disease." The rice that is transferred to this gene has an exotic "health-care weapon."