A discovery can produce proteins to feed millions.

A scientific method used to study cancer and HIV treatments has now been used successfully by agricultural scientists in finding ways to create food for hungry people in the world.

' This discovery is interesting in that we were able to reduce the amount of gossypol - a very toxic substance - from cottonseed to the point of being considered safe to use ,' said Dr. Keerti Rathore, real biotechnology engineer. Texas Institute of Agricultural Testing Institute said. ' In terms of nutrition for humans, this too-great examination has a lot of potential '.

Cotton plant (Photo: cottonman.com)

He said that cottonseed from these crops meets the food consumption standards of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the US Food and Drug Administration (US Food and Drug Administration). therefore, it is highly successful in processing cottonseed into a new high-protein food that can meet the needs of 500 million people a year.

This study, published in the Multidisciplinary edition of the American Academy of Sciences, was chaired by Mr. Rathore and a group of scientists from the Texas Agricultural Testing Institute, Texas A&M University and the Regional Center for Research in the Delta. Southern (Southern Plains Research Center), College Station of the US Department of Agriculture.

Gossypol toxin, which occurs in glands at all non-ground parts of cotton plants, including seeds. Dr. Rathore said that ' the beauty of this study ' lies in the reduced amount of gossypol for only cottonseed - which contains very high levels of protein - not reduced to the rest of the plant, where This gossypol poison acts as a defensive weapon against insects and diseases.

The team used RNAi technology, a technique that could make genes ' silent .' This technique allows scientists to target the gossypol gene solely for cottonseed while keeping the gene active in the rest of the plant. RNAi is the technique that won the Nobel Prize in medicine by American scientists, Andrew Z. Fire and Craig C. Mello.

Dr. Rathore said: ' What we do is use this technique to selectively inhibit a gene that is able to create' code 'for an enzyme that is involved in the process of birth. synthetic gossypol in cottonseed. '

Cotton yarn has been made into fabrics more than 7000 years ago . For most of this time, grain products obtained from the processing of fiber can only be used for cattle. Cattle can tolerate gossypol only after digesting this toxin through their four stomach compartments.

Dr. Rathore points out that 'Very few people realize that to get a pound of cotton, cotton must produce 1.6 pounds of cottonseed. Each year the world produces 44 million tons of cotton seeds. Cotton seeds usually contain about 22% protein and this is a very high quality protein ".

In total, about 10 tons of protein is contained in the amount of cottonseed.

Decades ago, Texas and California scientists have grown cotton plants that do not contain gossypol glands on all parts of the plant. But cotton plants without this gossypol gland are economically failing because the lack of gossypol glands has made cotton plants a good prey for insects and diseases.

Many treatments have been developed to extract gossypol and the oil can be used for humans but at a high cost. In addition, the remaining food after the oil has been removed still contains gossypol and therefore cannot be used by humans, or for pigs, chickens or turkeys.

However, cotton plants with new characteristics created by the research team, can make this cotton more valuable not only in cotton but also in food crops.

(Photo: Sciencedaily)

Dr. Rathore said: ' We can use cotton seeds directly or make food for us if they don't contain gossypol or pet food.'

Dr. Rathore notes that the benefits of food from cotton plants can be reserved for countries that 'few farmers grow cotton and if they use this cotton seed, they can gain many benefits. more from them '.

He believed that the food could eventually be made of cottonseeds of these new cotton plants. Although the gossypol-free cotton plant grown by the Agricultural Research Institute planted in the 1970s and 1980s was attacked by insects and diseases, but one of the food - TAMUnuts - made from seeds of trees This gossypol non-gland cotton - can be used for humans.

This discovery will create not a new crop, but a 'new feature that can' nourish 'any plant that is highly profitable, and this trait can be maintained from generation. one after another, ' said Dr. Rathore.

He said scientists have succeeded in maintaining this trait over three generations in research done in the laboratory. The next step will test to find the best plants from the many lines they have created, followed by using new traits to plant trees in the greenhouse and then the results will be proved in practice.

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