Quality variations in transgenic rice with a synthetic cry1Ab gene from Bacillus thuringiensis

In order to estimate the potential of transgenic rice, characteristics related to grain quality and starch viscosity were investigated in six japonica lines based on three primary transgenic lines containing a synthetic cry1Ab gene from Bacillus thuringiensis. No significant differences were found between the transgenic lines and the wild type, including negative lines and an untransformed line. All six transgenic lines were comparable in size, milling quality, appearance quality and physicochemical properties to the wild type that were derived from. One exception was that the lines derived from the primary transgenic line TR0‐101 had smaller grains. Crude protein contents were equivalent in all the material tested, but Cry1Ab protein was only detected in grains of transgenic rice and was undetectable in the cooked rice. The viscosity of the starch differed between the transgenic lines, the wild type and other controls, and two transgenic lines had breakdown values (BDV) and setback values (SBV) similar to the wild type. A positional effect of T‐DNA insertion on starch viscosity was found in three primary transgenic lines.