C4 Rice Project

The C4 Rice Project is a project to create a genetically engineered variety of rice capable of performing C4 photosynthesis.


 * "Rice has what is known as a C3 photosynthetic pathway, less efficient than that of maize, which has a C4 pathway. Taking a lesson from evolution and converting a plant from C3 to C4 would involve a rearrangement of cellular structures within the leaves and more efficient expression of various enzymes related to the photosynthetic process. However, all the components for C4 photosynthesis already exist in the rice plant, but they are distributed differently and are not as active."

Funding
The project was initially funded by the Gates Foundation in October 2008 with a grant of $11,017,675 to the International Rice Research Institute "to increase yield by increase the photosynthetic efficiency of rice." In October 2010, the Gates Foundation gave the Shanghai Institute of Biological Sciences $481,388 "to support research that will guide the C4 rice project."

Related SourceWatch articles

 * Gates Foundation
 * Biotechnology
 * Genetically Modified Organisms
 * International Rice Research Institute
 * Second Green Revolution
 * Gates Foundation Global Agriculture Grants