Several traditional rice varieties are considered in folk medicine to have high nutritive and therapeutic value. Some of these land races are known in indigenous cultures to cure anaemia in women during and after pregnancy9 , and many of them (e.g. Kalabhat, Navara, Norungan, etc.) are now known to contain high levels of iron . Thousands of folk rice landraces are yet to be screened for their micronutrients content and therapeutic potential.

Surveillance of the extracellular environment by immune receptors is of central importance to eukaryotic survival. The rice receptor kinase XA21, which confers robust resistance to most strains of the Gram-negative bacterium Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae (Xoo), is representative of a large class of cell surface immune receptors in plants and animals. We report the identification of a previously undescribed Xoo protein, called RaxX, which is required for activation of XA21-mediated immunity.

A novel way of cooking rice to maximize the removal of the carcinogen inorganic arsenic (Asi) is presented here. In conventional rice cooking water and grain are in continuous contact, and it is known that the larger the water:rice cooking ratio, the more Asi removed by cooking, suggesting that the Asi in the grain is mobile in water. Experiments were designed where rice is cooked in a continual stream of percolating near boiling water, either low in Asi, or Asi free.