Everyday millions of children suffer from nutritional deficiencies. With everything that modern science has to offer, scientists have long dreamed of a way to use cloning or genetic engineering to help solve this growing problem. New research from the University of California, the University of Haifa and the U.S. Department of Agriculture that will be published in the next issue of Science, comes one step closer to making that dream a reality by successfully cloning a gene from wild wheat.

The cloned wheat gene, dubbed GPC-B1, increases the amount of protein, zinc and iron content in grain by 10 to 15%. The researchers concluded that GPC-B1 was responsible for the changes by constructing genetically modified wheat lines with reduced levels of the gene. After several weeks, the genetically modified plants had 30% less grain, protein, zinc and iron.

Surprisingly, the study also found that cultivated wheat products like pasta and bread have a nonfunctional copy of GPC-B1. The researchers  think the gene was lost in the domestication process and surmise that reintroducing it into commercial wheat products could increase its nutritional value. 

Jorge Dubcovsky, a wheat breeder and lead scientist of the study, has begun to introduce GPC-B1 into 20 public wheat-breeding programs that are part of the Wheat Coordinated Agricultural Project. Research is still under way to determine if there are any negative implications caused by the genes.

What it Means: Wheat is one of the world’s largest crops and accounts for nearly one-fifth of all caloric intake. There are 2 billion people who are deficient in zinc and iron throughout the world and 160 million children who lack adequate proteins. Any increase in the amount of protein and micronutrients in grains could help curb this problem and increase overall health.

From the Archive:

Jun. 28, 2006: Good Harvests Don't Necessarily Ease Hunger