Biofortification of Fe and Zn in rice by sucrose transporter over-expression

Project description

Rice feeds over 2 billion people worldwide. Despite this, the milled grain contains very few nutrients beyond that of starch. Consequently, over reliance on white rice leads to malnutrition in humans. We have increased Fe and Zn levels in the rice grain by engineering the expression of a sucrose transporter protein and unexpectedly found far more vigorous growth in these transgenic plants. This project aims to determine the cause of this growth phenotype with the long term goal of improving the nutrition of millions of people that depend on rice as a food source.

Assumed knowledge

Basic skills in Molecular Biology, DNA and RNA extraction, RT-PCR, gel electrophoresis

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You must also contact each supervisor directly to discuss both the project details and your suitability to undertake the project.