A golden era—pro-vitamin A enhancement in diverse crops
Issue date
2011Author
Twyman, Richard M.
Sanahuja Solsona, Georgina
Suggested citation
Bai, Chao;
Twyman, Richard M.;
Farré Martinez, Gemma;
Sanahuja Solsona, Georgina;
Christou, Paul;
Capell Capell, Teresa;
Zhu, Changfu;
.
(2011)
.
A golden era—pro-vitamin A enhancement in diverse crops.
In Vitro Cellular and Developmental Biology - Plant, 2011, vol. 47, núm. 3, p. 255-270.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11627-011-9363-6.
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Show full item recordAbstract
Numerous crops have been bred or engineered
to increase carotenoid levels in an effort to develop novel
strategies that address vitamin A deficiency in the developing
world. The pioneering work in rice (not covered in this review)
has been followed up in many additional crops, some of which
are staples like rice whereas others are luxury products whose
impact on food security is likely to be marginal. This review
surveys the progress that has been made in carotenoid
breeding and metabolic engineering, focusing on β-carotene
enhancement in crops other than rice. We ask if these efforts
have the potential to address vitamin A deficiency in developing
countries by comparing bioavailable pro-vitamin A
levels in wild type and enhanced crops to determine whether
nutritional requirements can be met without the consumption
of unrealistic amounts of food. The potential impact of
carotenoid enhancement should therefore be judged against
benchmarks that include the importance of particular crops
in terms of global food security, the amount of bioavailable
β-carotene, and the amount of food that must be consumed to
achieve the reference daily intake of vitamin A.