Transgenic Multivitamin Bioforti Fi Ed Corn: Science, Regulation, And
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Chapter 26 Transgenic Multivitamin Bioforti fi ed Corn: Science, Regulation, and Politics Gemma Farré , Shaista Naqvi , Uxue Zorrilla-López , Georgina Sanahuja , Judit Berman , Gerhard Sandmann , Gaspar Ros , Rubén López-Nicolás , Richard M. Twyman , Paul Christou , Teresa Capell , and Changfu Zhu Key Points • Combinatorial nuclear transformation was developed as a technique to dissect and modulate the carotenoid biosynthesis pathway in corn. • The same strategy was then used to generate corn plants simultaneously engineered to produce higher levels of provitamin A, vitamin B9, and vitamin C ( b -carotene, folate, and ascorbate). • The best-performing lines contained 169-fold more b -carotene, 6.1-fold more ascorbate, and double the amount of folate as found in wild-type endosperm of the same variety. G. Farré, Ph.D. • U. Zorrilla-López • G. Sanahuja • J. Berman • T. Capell, Ph.D. • C. Zhu, Ph.D. Department of Plant Production and Forestry Science, ETSEA , University of Lleida-Agrotecnio Center , Av. Alcalde Rovira Roure, 191 , 25198 Lleida , Spain e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected] S. Naqvi, Ph.D. MRC Protein Phosphorylation Unit , College of Life Sciences, Sir James Black Complex, University of Dundee , Dundee , UK Department of Plant Production and Forestry Science, ETSEA, University of Lleida- Agrotecnio Center, Av. Alcalde Rovira Roure, 191, 25198, Lleida, Spain e-mail: [email protected] G. Sandmann, Ph.D. Bisynthesis Group, Molecular Biosciences , Johann Wolfgang Goethe Universität , 60054 Frankfurt , Germany e-mail: [email protected] G. Ros, Ph.D. • R. López-Nicolás, Ph.D. Department of Food Science and Nutrition, Faculty of Veterinary Sciences , Regional Campus of International Excellence “Campus Mare Nostrum” , University of Murcia , Spain e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected] R. M. Twyman, Ph.D. TRM Ltd. , P.O. Box 93, York, YO43 3WE , UK e-mail: [email protected] P. Christou, Ph.D. (*) Department of Plant Production and Forestry Science, ETSEA , University of Lleida-Agrotecnio Center , Av. Alcalde Rovira Roure, 191 , 25198 Lleida , Spain Institució Catalana de Recerca I Estudis Avançats , 08010 Barcelona , Spain e-mail: [email protected] V.R. Preedy et al. (eds.), Handbook of Food Fortifi cation and Health: From Concepts to Public 335 Health Applications Volume 1, Nutrition and Health, DOI 10.1007/978-1-4614-7076-2_26, © Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013 336 G. Farré et al. • Genetic engineering provides a rapid way to generate nutritionally enhanced traits in local breeding varieties and this has a great potential to improve human health in developing countries. • However, several nontechnical constraints need to be addressed for the bene fi ts of nutritionally enhanced crops such as multivitamin corn to reach poor people in the developing world. • The use of genetically engineered plants could not only help to prevent micronutrient de fi ciency, it could also reduce the need for vitamin supplements and therefore avoid many cases of hypervitaminosis. Keywords Plant biotechnology • Genetic engineering • Transgenic crop • Vitamin • Reference daily intake • Subsistence agriculture • Developing country • Vitamin de fi ciency • Multivitamin corn • Hypervitaminosis Abbreviations Adcs Aminodeoxychorismate synthase CRTB Bacterial phytoene synthase CRTI Bacterial phytoene desaturase/isomerase CRTY Bacterial lycopene cyclase Dhar Dehydroascorbate reductase DHPS 7,8-Dihydropteroate synthase EU European Union folE E . coli GTP cyclohydrolase FPGS Folypolyglutamate synthetase GalLDH l -Galactono-1,4-lactone dehydrogenase gch1 GTP cyclohydrolase 1 GGP GDP- l -galactose phosphorylase GGPP Geranylgeranyl diphosphate Glbch Gent iana lutea b -carotene hydroxylase Gllycb Gentiana lutea lycopene b -cyclase GLOase l -Gulono1,4-lactone oxidase GME GDP- d -mannose-3 ¢ ,5 ¢ -epimerase HGA Homogentisic acid HMDHP Hydroxymethyldihydropterin H P P r -Hydroxyphenylpyruvic acid HPPD r -Hydroxyphenylpyruvic acid dioxygenase HPPK 6-Hydroxymethyl-7,8-dihydropterin pyrophosphokinase HPT1 Homogentisate phytyltransferase MDHA Monodehydroascorbate MPBQ 2-Methyl-6-phytylbenzoquino MPBQ MT MPBQ methyltransferase Or Orange P A B A p -Aminobenzoate PacrtI Pantoea ananatis phytoene desaturase ParacrtW Paracoccus b -carotene ketolase PSY1 Phytoene synthase RAE Retinol activity equivalent RDI Reference daily intake RNAi RNA interference 26 Transgenic Multivitamin Biofortifi ed Corn: Science, Regulation, and Politics 337 TC Tocopherol cyclase TyrA Prephenate dehydrogenase Zmpsy1 Zea mays phytoene synthase 1 g -TMT g -Tocopherol methyltransferase Introduction Micronutrient de fi ciency is a major global challenge because at any one time up to 50 % of the world’s population may suffer from diseases caused by a chronic insuf fi cient supply of vitamins and minerals, and this largely re fl ects the lack of access to a diverse diet [ 1 ] . In developed countries, micronutrient de fi ciency is addressed by encouraging the consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables, along with supplementation and forti fi cation programs to enhance the nutritional value of staple foods [ 2 ] . In con- trast, the populations of developing countries typically subsist on a monotonous diet of milled cereal grains such as rice or corn, which are poor sources of vitamins and minerals. Strategies that have been proposed to overcome micronutrient de fi ciencies in developing countries include supplementation, forti fi cation, and the implementation of conventional breeding and genetic engineering programs to generate nutrient-rich varieties of staple crops. Unfortunately, the fi rst two strategies have been largely unsuccessful because of the insuf fi cient funding, poor governance, and dysfunctional distribution net- work in developing country settings [ 3 ] . Bioforti fi cation programs based on conventional breeding have enjoyed only marginal success because of the limited available genetic diversity and the time required to develop crops with enhanced nutritional properties as well as desirable agronomic characteristics. It is also impossible to conceive of a conventional breeding strategy that would ever produce “nutrition- ally complete” cereals [ 2 ] . More promising results have been obtained by engineering the metabolic pathways leading to provitamin A, vitamin B9, and vitamin C ( b -carotene, folate, and ascorbate) in the same transgenic corn line multivitamin corn [ 4 ] . Genetic engineering therefore has immense potential to improve the nutritional properties of staple crops and contribute to better health, although a number of technical, economical, regulatory, and sociopolitical constraints remain to be addressed. Bioforti fi cation by Genetic Engineering Vitamin A (Retinol) Humans can store retinol obtained as retinyl esters from meat and dairy products but can also synthesize the reduced form (retinal) directly from b -carotene, one of more than 700 fat-soluble pigments known as carotenoids that accumulate in the fl owers, fruits, and storage organs of plants and confer red, orange, and yellow coloring [5 ] . Cereal grains do not accumulate b -carotene, so vitamin A de fi ciency is therefore prevalent in developing country populations that subsist on cereal-based diets. Several strategies have been used alone and in combination to increase the levels of b -carotene in cereals, such as increasing fl ux through the carotenogenic pathway by making more precursors available, modifying the activity of carotenogenic enzymes, blocking pathway branch points, and creating sinks to store b -carotene and relieve feedback inhibition. The fi rst committed step in carotenoid biosynthesis is the conversion of geranylgeranyl diphos- phate (GGPP) into phytoene by phytoene synthase (PSY), and this is recognized as a major pathway bottleneck. Therefore, increasing the activity of this enzyme by expressing a plant PSY transgene or the bacterial equivalent CRTB has increased total carotenoid levels in tomato, canola, and corn by up to 50-fold, predominantly in the form of a - and b -carotene [ 6– 8 ] . Phytoene is desaturated and isomer- ized in several steps to form lycopene, but one bacterial enzyme (CRTI) can accomplish all these reactions. Lycopene is then cyclized at each end by lycopene b -cyclase (LYCB, bacterial equivalent 338 G. Farré et al. CRTY) to form b -carotene or at one end by lycopene e-cyclase (LYCE) and at the other by LYCB to form a -carotene. Several attempts have been made to increase the b -carotene content of plants by overexpressing LYCB or suppressing the activity of LYCE, thus shifting fl ux into the b -branch. For example, in canola lines expressing CRTB, CRTI, and CRTY, there was not only a higher total carotenoid content than wild-type seeds (1,229 m g/g fresh weight), but the b - to a -carotene ratio increased from 2:1 to 3:1 showing that the additional LYCB activity skewed the competition for the common precursor lycopene and increased fl ux speci fi cally towards b -carotene [ 9 ] . Some cereal grains do not produce carotenoids at all and it is therefore necessary to introduce new functionality. One of the most interesting examples is rice endosperm, where the expression of PSY leads to the accumulation of phytoene but no other carotenoids, thus the entire carotenoid pathway has to be imported to produce “Golden Rice” containing b -carotene [10 ] . Similar methodology can be used to extend partial pathways and generate additional