Even though white rice is a major source of calories for over half the world’s population, it is a poor source of vitamins. While rice can be fortified using vitamin powders, such approaches have had limited success because many vitamins are leeched away during the washing process prior to cooking. To address this problem, we have engineered proteins that will adhere nutrients to rice grains and prevent losses. These proteins contain a starch-binding domain that is fused to specific nutrient-binding domains. Because rice is composed mainly of starch, the starch-binding domain prevents nutrient leeching during washing. Upon cooking, the nutrient-binding domain denatures and releases the nutrients into the cooked rice. Supplementing rice with these fusion proteins will provide a novel, non-GMO approach to fortifying rice with vitamins. Our team has created fusion proteins with a starch-binding domain connected to a Vitamin b12-binding domain, a thiamine-binding domain, a lysine-rich protein, and a red fluorescent protein.
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