Africa Rice Center with IRRI and International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) the Global Rice Science Partnership (GRiSP), which sets a global strategic research agenda for rice. One of the major tasks of AfricaRice is the development and introduction of new rice seed varieties that are suitable for African conditions. NERICA, which stands for "New Rice for Africa", is two families of interspecific cultivars of African ("Oryza glaberrima") and Asian ("Oryza sativa") rice species, that was developed to improve the yields of African farmers. For his work on NERICA, Dr Monty Jones from Sierra Leone was awarded the World Food Prize in 2004
12-oxophytodienoate reductase 12-oxophytodienoate reductase 12-oxophytodienoate reductase (OPRs) is an enzyme of the family of Old Yellow Enzymes (OYE). OPRs are grouped into two groups: OPRI and OPRII – the second group is the focus of this article, as the function of the first group is unknown, but is the subject of current research. The OPR enzyme utilizes the cofactor flavin mononucleotide (FMN) and catalyzes the following reaction in the jasmonic acid synthesis pathway: This reaction occurs in peroxisomes in plants. Several isozymes have been discovered, with varying substrate stereospecificity: three in "Lycopersicon esculentum", 13 in "Oryza sativa", and five in "Arabidopsis thaliana".