Biofortification is an upcoming, promising, cost-effective, and sustainable technique of delivering micronutrients to a population that has limited access to diverse diets and other micronutrient interventions. Unfortunately, major food crops are poor sources of micronutrients required for normal human growth. The manuscript deals in all aspects of crop biofortification which includes-breeding, agronomy, and genetic modification. It tries to summarize all the biofortification research that has been conducted on different crops. Success stories of biofortification include lysine and tryptophan rich quality protein maize (World food prize 2000), Vitamin A rich orange sweet potato (World food prize 2016); generated by crop breeding, oleic acid, and stearidonic acid soybean enrichment; through genetic transformation and selenium, iodine, and zinc supplementation. The biofortified food crops, especially cereals, legumes, vegetables, and fruits, are providing sufficient levels of micronutrients to targeted populations. Although a greater emphasis is being laid on transgenic research, the success rate and acceptability of breeding is much higher. Besides the challenges biofortified crops hold a bright future to address the malnutrition challenge.

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Biofortified Crops Generated by Breeding, Agronomy, and Transgenic Approaches Are Improving Lives of Millions of People around the World

Selenium (Se) is an essential element for mammals and its deficiency in the diet is a global problem. Plants accumulate Se and thus represent a major source of Se to consumers. Agronomic biofortification intends to enrich crops with Se in order to secure its adequate supply by people. The goal of this review is to report the present knowledge of the distribution and processes of Se in soil and at the plant-soil interface, and of Se behaviour inside the plant in terms of biofortification. It aims to unravel the Se metabolic pathways that affect the nutritional value of edible plant products, various Se biofortification strategies in challenging environments, as well as the impact of Se-enriched food on human health. Agronomic biofortification and breeding are prevalent strategies for battling Se deficiency. Future research addresses nanosized Se biofortification, crop enrichment with multiple micronutrients, microbial-integrated agronomic biofortification, and optimization of Se biofortification in adverse conditions. Biofortified food of superior nutritional quality may be created, enriched with healthy Se-compounds, as well as several other valuable phytochemicals. Whether such a food source might be used as nutritional intervention for recently emerged coronavirus infections is a relevant question that deserves investigation.

/pdf/selenium-biofortification-in-the-21-st-century-status-and-1ecb7uslda.pdf

Selenium biofortification in the 21 st century: status and challenges for healthy human nutrition.

Biofortification through plant breeding is a sustainable approach to improve the nutritional profile of food crops. The majority of the world's population depends on staple food crops; however, most are low in key micronutrients. Biofortification to improve the nutritional profile of pulse crops has increased importance in many breeding programs in the past decade. The key micronutrients targeted have been iron, zinc, selenium, iodine, carotenoids, and folates. In recent years, several biofortified pulse crops including common beans and lentils have been released by HarvestPlus with global partners in developing countries, which has helped in overcoming micronutrient deficiency in the target population. This review will focus on recent research advances and future strategies for the biofortification of pulse crops.

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Biofortification of Pulse Crops: Status and Future Perspectives.

Genetics and chemistry of pigments in wheat grain – A review

Capsaicinoids: Pungency beyond Capsicum

Transfer of grain colors to elite wheat cultivars and their characterization

Colored wheat, rich in anthocyanins, has created interest among the breeders and baking industry. This study was aimed at understanding the nutritional and product making potential of our advanced, high yielding and regionally adapted colored wheat lines. Our results indicated that our advanced colored wheat lines exhibited higher anthocyanin content and antioxidant activity than donor wheat lines and it varied in the order of white<purple<blue<black wheat. UPLC chromatogram revealed that anthocyanin composition and peak pattern is not only dependent on donor genotype but also background of recipient genotype. Interestingly, the purple wheat extract showed highest anti-inflammatory effect and followed the trend of white<blue<black<purple. Nutritional (carbohydrates, sugar, protein, ash, dietary fibre and vitamins) and processing parameters in relation to end-use quality (SDS sedimentation, gluten content, alveograph) of advanced colored lines were similar to high yielding white wheat cultivar. Colored wheat lines showed high iron and zinc content compared to white wheat indicating double bio-fortification. Therefore, our advanced colored wheat lines with high anthocyanin, iron and zinc contents showed antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity and possessed desirable features for product making and commercial utilization.

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Anthocyanin bio-fortified colored wheat: Nutritional and functional characterization.

Heat shock proteins (HSPs) have a significant role in protein folding and are considered as prominent candidates for development of heat-tolerant crops. Understanding of wheat HSPs has great importance since wheat is severely affected by heat stress, particularly during the grain filling stage. In the present study, efforts were made to identify HSPs in wheat and to understand their role during plant development and under different stress conditions. HSPs in wheat genome were first identified by using Position-Specific Scoring Matrix (PSSMs) of known HSP domains and then also confirmed by sequence homology with already known HSPs. Collectively, 753 TaHSPs including 169 TaSHSP, 273 TaHSP40, 95 TaHSP60, 114 TaHSP70, 18 TaHSP90 and 84 TaHSP100 were identified in the wheat genome. Compared with other grass species, number of HSPs in wheat was relatively high probably due to the higher ploidy level. Large number of tandem duplication was identified in TaHSPs, especially TaSHSPs. The TaHSP genes showed random distribution on chromosomes, however, there were more TaHSPs in B and D sub-genomes as compared to the A sub-genome. Extensive computational analysis was performed using the available genomic resources to understand gene structure, gene expression and phylogentic relationship of TaHSPs. Interestingly, apart from high expression under heat stress, high expression of TaSHSP was also observed during seed development. The study provided a list of candidate HSP genes for improving thermo tolerance during developmental stages and also for understanding the seed development process in bread wheat.

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Genome-wide Identification and Characterization of Heat Shock Protein Family Reveals Role in Development and Stress Conditions in Triticum aestivum L.

Scope Effective health-promoting results of either anthocyanins or whole wheat against chronic diseases are well reported. The current study is designed to understand the effect and underlying mechanism of anthocyanins-biofortified whole wheat on high-fat diet (HF)-induced obesity and its comorbidities. Method and results Mice are fed a HFD supplemented with isoenergetic white, purple, or black whole wheat for 12 weeks and analyzed by physiological, biochemical, and nutrigenomics studies (qRT-PCR and RNA-Seq analysis). Black wheat significantly reduces body weight gain and fat pad. Both black and purple wheats reduce total cholesterol, triglyceride, and free fatty acid levels in serum, with the restoration of blood glucose and insulin resistance. Black wheat significantly elevates the expression of enzymes related to fatty acid balancing, β-oxidation, and oxidative stress that supported the biochemical and physiological positive outcomes. Moreover, the transcriptome analysis of adipose and liver tissue reveals activation of multiple pathways and genes related to fatty acid-β oxidation (crat, acca2, lonp2 etc.), antioxidative enzymes (gpx1, sod1, nxnl1 etc.), along with balancing of fatty acid metabolism specifically in black wheat supplemented mice. Conclusion Taken together, the results suggest that the incorporation of colored wheat (especially black wheat) in the diet can prevent obesity and related metabolic complications.

Aman Kumar

Papers

Biofortified Crops Generated by Breeding, Agronomy, and Transgenic Approaches Are Improving Lives of Millions of People around the World

Transfer of grain colors to elite wheat cultivars and their characterization

Anthocyanin bio-fortified colored wheat: Nutritional and functional characterization.

Genome-wide Identification and Characterization of Heat Shock Protein Family Reveals Role in Development and Stress Conditions in Triticum aestivum L.

Anthocyanin-Biofortified Colored Wheat Prevents High Fat Diet-Induced Alterations in Mice: Nutrigenomics Studies.