Abstract
Micronutrient deficiencies affect approximately 3 billion people worldwide. Malnutrition hinders the development of human potential and social and economic development in developing countries. The World Health Organization (WHO) and the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) have made fighting micronutrient deficiencies, known as hidden hunger, a high priority. Deficiencies of the micronutrients, such as iron, zinc, and vitamin A, are the most devastating among the world’s poor. WHO emphasizes nutrient supplementation and food fortification to address the malnutrition. CGIAR has placed a greater emphasis on biofortification through the HarvestPlus challenge program, and improved micronutrient content of the staple crops (rice, wheat, maize, beans, cassava, pearl millet, and sweet potato) through breeding and biotechnological approaches. An excellent example of biotechnology application is the development of ‘golden rice’ with adequate levels of a provitamin A, β-carotene. The Africa Harvest and the BioCassava Plus programs, respectively, are developing sorghum and cassava with improved nutritional quality. Here, we summarize current strategies of crop biofortification and future prospects towards the development of biofortified crops.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Baisakh N, Rehana S, Rai M, Oliva N, Tan J, Mackill DJ, Khush GS, Datta K, Datta SK (2006) Marker-free transgenic (MFT) near-isogenic introgression lines (NIILs) of ‘golden’ indica rice (cv. IR64) with accumulation of provitamin A in the endosperm tissue. Plant Biotechnol J 4:467–475
Beebe S, Gonzalez AV, Rengifo J (2000) Research on trace minerals in common bean. Food Nutr Bull 21:387–391
Beyer P (2010) Golden Rice and ‘Golden’ crops for human nutrition. Nat Biotechnol 27:478–481
Black RE (2003) Zinc deficiency, infectious disease and mortality in the developing world. J Nutr 133:S1485–S1489
Bouis HE, RD Graham, Welch RM (2000) The CGIAR micronutrient project: justification, history, objectives and summary of findings. In: Workshop on improving human nutrition through agriculture. The role of International Agricultural Research Centers. International Food policy Research Institute, Washington, DC, pp 374–381
Burkhardt PK, Beyer P, Wuenn J, Kloeti A, Armstrong GA, Schledz M, Von Lintig J, Potrykus I (1997) Transgenic rice (Oryza sativa) endosperm expressing daffodil (Narcissus pseudonarcissus) phytoene synthase accumulates phytoene, a key intermediate of provitamin A biosynthesis. Plant J 11:1071–1078
Cakmak I (2008) Enrichment of cereal grains with zinc, agronomic or genetic biofortification? Plant Soil 302:1–17
Caulfield L, Richard S, Rivera J, Musgrove P, Black R (2005) Stunting, wasting, and micronutrient deficiency disorders. In: Disease control priorities in developing countries, 2nd edn. World Bank Oxford University Press, Washington, DC, pp 551–567
Chakraborty S, Chakraborty N, Datta A (2000) Increased nutritive value of transgenic potato by expressing a nonallergenic seed albumin gene from Amranthus hypochondriacus. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 97:3724–3729
Datta K, Baisakh N, Oliva N, Torrizo L, Abrigo E, Tan J, Rai M, Rehana S, Al-Babili S, Beyer P, Potrykus I, Datta SK (2003) Bioengineered ‘golden’ indica rice cultivars with beta-carotene metabolism in the endosperm with hygromycin and mannose selection systems. Plant Biotechnol J 1:81–90
Diretto G, Al-Babili S, Tavazza R, Papacchioli V, Beyer P, Giuliano G (2007) Metabolic engineering of potato carotenoid content through tuber-specific overexpression of a bacterial mini-pathway. PLoS One 2:e350
Douchkov D, Gryczka C, Stephan UW, Hell R, Baumlein H (2005) Ectopic expression of nicotianamine synthase genes results in improved iron accumulation and increased nickel tolerance in transgenic tobacco. Plant Cell Environ 28:365–374
Ducreux LJ, Morris WL, Hedley PE, Shepherd T, Davies HV, Millam S, Taylor MA (2005) Metabolic engineering of high carotenoid potato tubers containing enhanced levels of beta-carotene and lutein. J Exp Bot 56:81–89
Falco SC, Guida T, Locke M, Mauvais J, Sanders C, Ward RT, Webber P (1995) Transgenic canola and soybean seeds with increased lysine. Biotechnology 13:577–582
FAO (2009) The state of food insecurity in the world. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome
Gibbon BC, Larkins BA (2005) Molecular genetic approaches to developing quality protein maize. Trends Genet 21:227–233
Gómez-Galera S, Rojas E, Sudhakar D, Zhu C, Pelacho AM, Capell T, Christou P (2010) Critical evaluation of strategies for mineral fortification of staple food crops. Transgenic Res 19:165–180
Goto F, Yoshimura T, Shigemoto N, Toki S, Takaiwa F (1999) Iron fortification of rice seed by the soybean ferritin gene. Nat Biotechnol 17:282–286
Greenwald P, McDonald SS (2001) The β-carotene story. Adv Exp Med Biol 492:219–231
Gregorio GB, Senadhira D, Htut H, Graham RD (2000) Breeding for trace mineral density in rice. Food Nutr Bull 21:382–386
Ha SH, Liang YS, Jung H, Ahn MJ, Suh SC, Kweon SJ, Kim DH, Kim YM, Kim JK (2010) Application of two bicistronic systems involving 2A and IRES sequences to the biosynthesis of carotenoids in rice endosperm. Plant Biotechnol J 8:928–938
Haas JD, Beard JL, Murray-Kolb LE, Del Mundo AM, Felix A, Gregorio GB (2005) Iron biofortified rice improves the iron stores of non anemic Filipino women. J Nutr 135:2823–2830
Hageniwana V (2000) Potential of orange-fleshed sweet potatoes in raising vitamin A intake in Africa. In: Workshop on improving human nutrition through agriculture: role of international agricultural research, vol 21, pp 414–418
HarvestPlus (2006) Biofortified sweet potato. Washington, DC. http://harvestplus.org
Hetzel BS (2000) Iodine and neuropsychological development. J Nutr 130:493S–495S
Hirschi KD (2009) Nutrient biofortification of food crops. Annu Rev Nutr 29:401–421
Lee J, Bae H, Jeong J, Lee JY, Yang YY, Hwang I, Martinoia E, Lee Y (2003) Functional expression of a bacterial heavy metal transporter in Arabidopsis enhances resistance to and decreases uptake of heavy metals. Plant Physiol 133:589–596
Lee S, Jeon US, Lee SJ, Kim YK, Persson DP, Husted S, Schjørring JK, Kakei Y, Masuda H, Nishizawa NK, An G (2009) Iron fortification of rice seeds through activation of the nicotianamine synthase gene. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 106:22014–22019
Lee S, Persson DP, Hansen TH, Husted S, Schjoerring JK, Kim YS, Jeon US, Kim YK, Kakei Y, Masuda H, Nishizawa NK, An G (2011) Bio-available zinc in rice seeds is increased by activation tagging of nicotianamine synthase. Plant Biotechnol J 9:865–873
Low JW, Arimond M, Osman N, Cunguara B, Zano F, Tschirley D (2007) A food-based approach introducing orange-fleshed sweet potatoes increased vitamin A intake and serum retinol concentrations in young children in rural Mozambique. J Nutr 137:1320–1327
Lucca P, Hurrell R, Potrykus I (2001) Genetic engineering approaches to improve the bioavailability and level of iron in rice grains. Theor Appl Genet 102:392–397
Ortiz-Monasterio I, Graham RD (2000) Breeding for trace minerals in wheat. Food Nutr Bull 21:392–396
Ortiz-Monasterio JI, Palacios-Rojas N, Meng E, Pixley K, Trethowan R, Pena RJ (2007) Enhancing the mineral and vitamin content of wheat and maize through plant breeding. J Cereal Sci 46:293–307
Paine JA, Shipton CA, Chaggar S, Howells RM, Kennedy MJ, Vernon G, Wright SY, Hinchliffe E, Adams JL, Silverstone AL, Drake R (2005) Improving the nutritional value of golden rice through increased pro-vitamin A content. Nat Biotechnol 23:482–487
Palmgren MG, Clemens S, Williams LE, Kramer U, Borg S, Schjorring JK, Sanders D (2008) Zinc biofortification of cereals: problems and solutions. Trends Plant Sci 13:464–473
Potrykus I (2001) Golden rice and beyond. Plant Physiol 125:1157–1161
Pray C, Paarlberg R, Unnevehr L (2007) Patterns of political response to biofortified varieties of crops produced with different breeding techniques and agronomic traits. AgBioForum 10:135–143. http://www.agbioforum.org
Ramaswamy B (2007) Biofortified crops and biotechnology: a political economy landscape for India. AgBioForum 10:170–177. http://www.agbioforum.org
Rasmussen SK, Hatzack F (1998) Identification of two low-phytate barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) grain mutants by TLC and genetics analysis. Hereditas 129:107–112
Sayre R, Beeching JR, Cahoon EB, Egesi C, Fauquet C, Fellman J, Fregene M, Gruissem W, Mallowa S, Manary M, Maziya-Dixon B, Mbanaso A, Schachtman DP, Siritunga D, Taylor N, Vanderschuren H, Zhang P (2011) The BioCassava Plus program: biofortification of cassava for sub-Saharan Africa. Annu Rev Plant Biol 62:251–272
Stein AJ (2010) Global impact of human mineral malnutrition. Plant Soil 335:133–154
Thakkar SK, Maziya-Dixon B, Dixon AG, Failla ML (2007) Beta-carotene micellarization during in vitro digestion and uptake by Caco-2 cells is directly proportional to beta-carotene content in different genotypes of cassava. J Nutr 137:2229–2233
WHO (1992) National strategies for overcoming micronutrient malnutrition. World Health Organization, Geneva
WHO (2009) Micronutrient deficiencies: iron deficiency anemia. World Health Organization, Geneva. http://www.who.int/nutrition/topics/idea
WHO (2011) Micronutrient deficiencies: vitamin A deficiency. World Health Organization, Geneva. http://www.who.int/nutrition/topics/vad/en/
Wirth J, Poletti S, Aeschlimann B, Yakandawala N, Drosse B, Osorio S, Tohge T, Fernie A, Günther D, Gruissem W, Sautter C (2009) Rice endosperm iron biofortification by targeted and synergistic action of nicotianamine synthase and ferritin. Plant Biotechnol J 7:631–644
World Bank (2008) World development report 2008. Oxford University Press, New York
Yan J, Kandianis CB, Harjes CE, Bai L, Kim EH, Yang X, Skinner DJ, Fu Z, Mitchell S, Li Q, Fernandez MG, Zaharieva M, Babu R, Fu Y, Palacios N, Li J, Dellapenna D, Brutnell T, Buckler ES, Warburton ML, Rocheford T (2010) Rare genetic variation at Zea mays crtRB1 increases beta-carotene in maize grain. Nat Genet 42:322–327
Ye X, Al-Babili S, Kloti A, Zhang J, Lucca P, Beyer P, Potrykus I (2000) Engineering the provitamin A (β-carotene) biosynthetic pathway into (carotenoid free) rice endosperm. Science 287:303–305
Zhao FJ, Shewry PR (2011) Recent developments in modifying crops and agronomic practice to improve human health. Food Policy 36:S94–S101
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by Grants from the World Class University program (R33-2008-000-10168-0), the Korean Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, and from the Next-Generation BioGreen 21 Program (PJ008114022011 and PJ008156012011), Rural Development Administration of the Korean Ministry of Food, Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Khush, G.S., Lee, S., Cho, JI. et al. Biofortification of crops for reducing malnutrition. Plant Biotechnol Rep 6, 195–202 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11816-012-0216-5
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11816-012-0216-5