Model of how plants sense zinc deficiency.

Plants are capable of inducing a range of physico-chemical and microbial modifications of the rhizosphere which can mobilize mineral nutrients or prevent toxic elements from entering the roots. Understanding how plants sense and adapt to variations in nutrient availability is essential in order to develop plant-based solutions addressing nutrient-use-efficiency and adaptation to nutrient-limited or -toxic soils. Recently two transcription factors of the bZIP family (basic-region leucine zipper) have been identified in Arabidopsis and shown to be pivotal in the adaptation response to zinc deficiency. They represent not only the first regulators of zinc homeostasis identified in plants, but also a very promising starting-point that can provide new insights into the molecular basis of how plants sense and adapt to the stress of zinc deficiency. Considering the available information thus far we propose in this review a putative model of how plants sense zinc deficiency.

Iron fortification of rice seeds through activation of the nicotianamine synthase gene.

The most widespread dietary problem in the world is mineral deficiency. We used the nicotianamine synthase (NAS) gene to increase mineral contents in rice grains. Nicotianamine (NA) is a chelator of metals and a key component of metal homeostasis. We isolated activation-tagged mutant lines in which expression of a rice NAS gene, OsNAS3, was increased by introducing 35S enhancer elements. Shoots and roots of the OsNAS3 activation-tagged plants (OsNAS3-D1) accumulated more Fe and Zn. Seeds from our OsNAS3-D1 plants grown on a paddy field contained elevated amounts of Fe (2.9-fold), Zn (2.2-fold), and Cu (1.7-fold). The NA level was increased 9.6-fold in OsNAS3-D1 seeds. Analysis by size exclusion chromatography coupled with inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy showed that WT and OsNAS3-D1 seeds contained equal amounts of Fe bound to IP6, whereas OsNAS3-D1 had 7-fold more Fe bound to a low molecular mass, which was likely NA. Furthermore, this activation led to increased tolerance to Fe and Zn deficiencies and to excess metal (Zn, Cu, and Ni) toxicities. In contrast, disruption of OsNAS3 caused an opposite phenotype. To test the bioavailability of Fe, we fed anemic mice with either engineered or WT seeds for 4 weeks and measured their concentrations of hemoglobin and hematocrit. Mice fed with engineered seeds recovered to normal levels of hemoglobin and hematocrit within 2 weeks, whereas those that ate WT seeds remained anemic. Our results suggest that an increase in bioavailable mineral content in rice grains can be achieved by enhancing NAS expression.

Zinc biofortification of cereals: problems and solutions.

The goal of biofortification is to develop plants that have an increased content of bioavailable nutrients in their edible parts. Cereals serve as the main staple food for a large proportion of the world population but have the shortcoming, from a nutrition perspective, of being low in zinc and other essential nutrients. Major bottlenecks in plant biofortification appear to be the root-shoot barrier and--in cereals--the process of grain filling. New findings demonstrate that the root-shoot distribution of zinc is controlled mainly by heavy metal transporting P1B-ATPases and the metal tolerance protein (MTP) family. A greater understanding of zinc transport is important to improve crop quality and also to help alleviate accumulation of any toxic metals.