Plant-Delta

The challenge

We are “Plant Delta” from Seed valley NL, aiming to develop a rice hybrid with high protein content and quality, which will impact diet of 3.5 billion rice consumers. Rice seed storage proteins are deficient in the essential amino acids: lysine and tryptophan.

The solution

Using CRISPR 3.0 the level of free tryptophan and lysine in the seeds will be increased by knocking out OASA2 and PROLM24 genes in two different experiments simultaneously. Finally, we will combine these mutants into a single hybrid rice line. We will determine the protein quality of rice by first performing an animal study and then a clinical trial in human volunteers will be performed. We will estimate the Digestible Indispensable Amino Acid Scores (DIAAS) of these hybrid lines. Hybrid lines with higher DIAAS scores will be then registered and commercialized.