Advanced Approaches for Biofortification

Abstract

Biofortification can be defined as the enhancement of minerals and vitamins in order to elevate the nutritional value of any food crop. This can be achieved by increasing the content of provitamin A, carotenoids, zinc, and iron. Around 50% of the world’s populations suffer from micronutrient deficiency of zinc, iron, selenium, calcium, and iodine. Among the many interventions, like dietary modification and diversification, supplementary nutrient supply, etc., biofortification is presently one of the best mediation to combat micronutrient malnutrition. Deficiencies of iron, iodine, vitamin A, vitamin B12, vitamin D, calcium, and magnesium are incredibly common worldwide. Besides, there also exist other nutrient deficiencies that come under the category of macronutrients, including carbohydrates, proteins (essential amino acids), fats (essential fatty acids), macrominerals, and water. Plant crops are an indispensable source of nutrition. Therefore a couple of years back, the idea of enhancing the nutrient qualities of plants emerged as a vital strategy to combat the prevailing nutrient deficiencies. Though, agronomic methods involved in developing crops with enhanced micronutrients have been traditionally practiced for years but are not sufficient. Later on, the conventional breeding approach was commonly followed and considered the best means of biofortification in crops. Decades later, transgene methods were developed and significantly gained popularity as a means to develop biofortified crops. Recently genome editing methods like TALENS, ZNFs, and CRISPR based technologies have also shown a huge advancement in the revolution of biofortifying plants. While there are other struggles related to acceptance and approval of such crops from both regulatory bodies as well as consumers and farmers. Nevertheless, recent years have seen the development and release of many micronutrient biofortified crops, for example, rice, maize, wheat, etc. and have proven to have a bright future as a nobel strategy essentially required for the health of humans worldwide.