Professor Gynheung An of the Department of Life Science and his team found out that OsNAS3 gene plays a vital role in increasing iron and zinc contents in rice grains. This research has suggested a new way to improve the level of minerals in rice and was published online on Dec. 22 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS).

The team isolated activation-tagged mutant lines in which expression of a rice NAS gene, OsNAS3, was increased by introducing 35S enhancer elements. The OsNAS3 activation-tagged plant seeds, which accumulated more iron and zinc, were fed to anemic mice to test for bioavailability and mice recovered to have a normal hemoglobin level within two weeks. This research result is anticipated to help widespread dietary problem of mineral deficiency.