OsELP Mediated Apoplastic Sequestration in Roots Acts as an Arsenic Filter, Limiting Grain Accumulation in Rice.
Chawda K, Siddique W, Srivastava D, Tiwari M, Anto S
Crop Improvement
Rice you eat regularly — including white rice, rice flour, and baby rice cereals — absorbs arsenic from soil and water, and this discovery reveals a natural molecular filter in the plant itself that could be bred or engineered to keep that arsenic out of your food.
Researchers found a protein in rice roots that acts like a sponge, grabbing arsenic and locking it into the outer wall of root cells before it can travel up into the grain. When they increased the amount of this protein in rice plants, far less arsenic ended up in the edible seeds. Rice plants engineered without this protein did the opposite — arsenic flooded into the leaves and grains, confirming the protein's role as a critical gatekeeper.
Key Findings
Overexpressing OsELP in rice significantly reduced arsenic in grains by sequestering it in root cell walls, confirmed visually with electron microscopy imaging
OsELP overexpression also protected plants from arsenic-induced oxidative damage by boosting antioxidant enzyme activity and limiting reactive oxygen species buildup
Rice plants with the OsELP gene knocked out accumulated more arsenic in shoots and were markedly more sensitive to both arsenite and arsenate stress
chevron_right Technical Summary
Scientists discovered a rice protein called OsELP that traps arsenic in root cell walls before it can migrate into the grain. Boosting this protein's activity dramatically reduced arsenic levels in rice grains, pointing to a clear genetic strategy for breeding safer rice.
Abstract Preview
Arsenic (As) contamination in rice (Oryza sativa L.) is a persistent threat to global food safety. Expansin-like proteins have been implicated in cell wall dynamics and metal binding; however, thei...
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