Biofortified tomatoes provide a new route to vitamin D sufficiency
Jie Li, Aurelia Scarano, Néstor Mora González, Fabio D’Orso, Yajuan Yue, Krisztián Németh, Gerhard Saalbach, Lionel Hill, Carlo Martins, Rolando Morán, Angelo Santino, Cathie Martin
Abstract
Abstract Poor vitamin D status is a global health problem; insufficiency underpins higher risk of cancer, neurocognitive decline and all-cause mortality. Most foods contain little vitamin D and plants are very poor sources. We have engineered the accumulation of provitamin D 3 in tomato by genome editing, modifying a duplicated section of phytosterol biosynthesis in Solanaceous plants, to provide a biofortified food with the added possibility of supplement production from waste material.
Topics & Concepts
BiofortificationVitaminBiotechnologyPhytosterolNeurocognitiveBiologyMalnutritionFood processingGenomeEnvironmental healthNatural resource economicsFood scienceMedicineGeneBiochemistryEconomicsPathologyCognitionNeuroscienceMicronutrientVitamin D Research Studies