Biofortification can be defined as the use of intrinsic biological processes to enhance the nutritional quality of the target crops and the health of the consumer. Biofortification often uses genetic processes, that may be improved through breeding or gene editing, or physiological processes, that may be influenced by agronomic interventions. These approaches have been used to improve the nutritional quality of staple crops, including but not exclusive to maize, rice and wheat, with increasing interest and urgency over the last decade. In part, this has been due to the translation (or potential for translation) of basic biological knowledge into solutions for real-world problems. However, the uncertainty of climate change and how plants may experience differences in growth or composition in response to decreasingly reliable rainfall, increased heat stress or even higher atmospheric CO2, is quite alarming. We suggest that recent advances in basic plant physiology, genomics, crop modeling and other areas make this a perfect topic for discussion by the global plant science community.
Much of the international community has focused on the essential nutrients of iron, zinc and pro-vitamin A carotenoids as targets of biofortification. Iron is important to intellectual development in children, such that deficiency at key developmental points in a child’s life can have lifelong consequences. while in adults, iron is also important for energetic processes where deficiency can reduce the ability of individuals to engage in physical labor or to effectively stunt national economic development. Zinc is key to immune responses, a key concern in a time of global pandemics. Zinc is also key to memory, such that to preserve quality of life among the elderly (when zinc absorption often starts to fall) having adequate dietary zinc is important. Pro-vitamin A carotenoids protect vision among both the young (whose eyes are developing) and the elderly (where a life of oxidative stressors can accumulate with deleterious effects). Biofortification protects the potential of our children and the quality of life among the aged.
We, therefore, invite submissions to discuss the following urgent research questions:
• What progress has been made in the identification of useful alleles as targets of breeding or gene editing to improve iron, zinc, or pro-vitamin A carotenoids?
• Other nutrients can be keenly important as well – what of progress in calcium, selenium or other beneficial antioxidants (e.g., vitamin E) or others?
• How do abiotic stressors such that high temperature, water stress or elevated CO2 influence plants’ ability to acquire nutrients from the soil, transport them into seeds or tubers, or make them bioavailable to consumers?
• How do toxic mimics to essential nutrients (e.g., cadmium for zinc or arsenic for phosphorous) behave in biofortified plants – are we potentially creating new problems as we address the current ones?
• How can genetic and agronomic interventions be jointly applied for increased nutritional benefit to vulnerable populations?
Biofortification can be defined as the use of intrinsic biological processes to enhance the nutritional quality of the target crops and the health of the consumer. Biofortification often uses genetic processes, that may be improved through breeding or gene editing, or physiological processes, that may be influenced by agronomic interventions. These approaches have been used to improve the nutritional quality of staple crops, including but not exclusive to maize, rice and wheat, with increasing interest and urgency over the last decade. In part, this has been due to the translation (or potential for translation) of basic biological knowledge into solutions for real-world problems. However, the uncertainty of climate change and how plants may experience differences in growth or composition in response to decreasingly reliable rainfall, increased heat stress or even higher atmospheric CO2, is quite alarming. We suggest that recent advances in basic plant physiology, genomics, crop modeling and other areas make this a perfect topic for discussion by the global plant science community.
Much of the international community has focused on the essential nutrients of iron, zinc and pro-vitamin A carotenoids as targets of biofortification. Iron is important to intellectual development in children, such that deficiency at key developmental points in a child’s life can have lifelong consequences. while in adults, iron is also important for energetic processes where deficiency can reduce the ability of individuals to engage in physical labor or to effectively stunt national economic development. Zinc is key to immune responses, a key concern in a time of global pandemics. Zinc is also key to memory, such that to preserve quality of life among the elderly (when zinc absorption often starts to fall) having adequate dietary zinc is important. Pro-vitamin A carotenoids protect vision among both the young (whose eyes are developing) and the elderly (where a life of oxidative stressors can accumulate with deleterious effects). Biofortification protects the potential of our children and the quality of life among the aged.
We, therefore, invite submissions to discuss the following urgent research questions:
• What progress has been made in the identification of useful alleles as targets of breeding or gene editing to improve iron, zinc, or pro-vitamin A carotenoids?
• Other nutrients can be keenly important as well – what of progress in calcium, selenium or other beneficial antioxidants (e.g., vitamin E) or others?
• How do abiotic stressors such that high temperature, water stress or elevated CO2 influence plants’ ability to acquire nutrients from the soil, transport them into seeds or tubers, or make them bioavailable to consumers?
• How do toxic mimics to essential nutrients (e.g., cadmium for zinc or arsenic for phosphorous) behave in biofortified plants – are we potentially creating new problems as we address the current ones?
• How can genetic and agronomic interventions be jointly applied for increased nutritional benefit to vulnerable populations?
