Chinese scientists create rice strain that boosts heart health

BEIJING - Chinese scientists have used gene editing to develop a novel strain of rice that can produce coenzyme CoQ10, offering consumers heart-healthy nutrients.

CoQ10 is an antioxidant that our bodies naturally produce, and it is essential for overall health, especially heart health. As people age, the body's ability to produce this fat-soluble antioxidant diminishes, which means that adding extra supplements to the diet can be beneficial.

However, cereal food crops like rice, as well as certain vegetables and fruits, primarily synthesize CoQ9.

After conducting an evolutionary analysis of natural variations in Coq1 enzymes across more than 1,000 terrestrial plant species and applying machine learning techniques, the researchers in this study used gene editing to modify five key amino acids of the Coq1 enzyme in rice, creating new rice varieties that are capable of synthesizing CoQ10.

Published online in the journal Cell on Friday, this study reveals that increased CoQ10 content has no impact on rice yield.

According to the study's co-first author Xu Jingjing, an associate researcher at Shanghai Chenshan Botanical Garden under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), previous studies have shown that CoQ10 remains relatively stable during heating -- indicating that cooking does not significantly affect CoQ10 levels.

Notably, if people eat this CoQ10 rice daily, they can supplement about 1 to 2 mg of CoQ10 per day. Given that the average intake of CoQ10 from meat is about 2 to 3 mg per day, the CoQ10 content in this newly developed rice is comparable to that found in meat, which means that it can serve as an effective nutritional supplement for the daily diet, Xu noted.

Zhao Qing, a researcher at Shanghai Chenshan Botanical Garden, believes that this research he was involved in "has uncovered the laws of plant evolution over thousands of years." He added that the achievement of creating the new rice species is not only applicable to specific cases like CoQ10 -- but also offers a universal approach to other biological research.

"Synthetic biology is all about learning from nature," Zhao said.

In addition, this study serves as an example of how big data and artificial intelligence can assist in crop breeding. According to the researchers, similar studies have made advancements in terms of the development of wheat options.

The research team responsible for the rice study also included researchers from the CAS Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences/Shanghai Chenshan Research Center and the Beijing-based Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology under the CAS.