Altered cottonseed could feed millions:
Scientists have found a way to use the cotton plant, long a source of fiber for clothing but inedible by humans, to feed potentially half a billion people a year.Texas A&M University plant biotechnologist Keerti Rathore and colleagues reported on Monday they have genetically altered the plant to reduce the levels of the toxic chemical gossypol in cottonseed, making it fit for human consumption.
“It actually tastes pretty good. It reminds me of chickpea. It’s a fairly good-tasting seed,” Rathore said in an interview.
“It tasted better than soybean, I can tell you that,” added Rathore, who admitted he had not tasted it until being asked repeatedly about its flavor in the days before the research was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The new-and-improved cottonseed could be ground into a flour and made into bread and other foods, Rathore said.
Rathore and his team turned to a technique also being used in cancer and AIDS research — so-called RNAi or RNA interference technology that can “silence” a gene — to cut the amount of gossypol in the cottonseed, home to significant amounts of protein. When eaten by people, gossypol can damage the heart and liver.
The researchers left gossypol intact in the remainder of the plant because it guards against insects and disease.
“So the trick is not to affect the levels of these compounds in the rest of the plant, but eliminate it from the seed only. And that’s what we have done,” Rathore said.
This cottonseed could serve as a high-protein food for the world’s hungry, and falls well within the criteria set by the World Health Organization and U.S. Food and Drug Administration for food consumption, the researchers said.
“Potentially, if all of the cottonseed today which is produced can be utilized for human nutrition directly, it can meet the protein requirements of 500 million people on an annual basis,” Rathore said.