벼 종자 저장단백질 및 재설계 연구 동향

New design of rice seed storage proteins

Rice is one of the most important food crops since it is consumed by approximately 60% of the world`s population. The most abundant component of rice grain is starch that is an important source of energy. The second abundant component is protein, which is an important protein source for people in many developing countries that rarely take animal protein. However, the rice protein lacks the essential amino acid lysine. Therefore, nutritional improvement in the essential amino acid composition of rice proteins is required. On the other side, rice grain has attracted attention as a diet and health food in developed countries, because its proteins have superior physiological and food processing properties. Thus, nutritional improvements in rice seed proteins by changing amino acid composition or introducing an useful protein or peptide have been studied. This review aims at assessing the current research status of biosynthesis, accumulation, genetic improvement of seed storage proteins by mutation or genetic engineering in rice.