title: Nutritious crops producing multiple carotenoids--a metabolic balancing act.
abstract: Plants and microbes produce multiple carotenoid pigments with important nutritional roles in animals. By unraveling the basis of carotenoid biosynthesis it has become possible to modulate the key metabolic steps in plants and thus increase the nutritional value of staple crops, such as rice (Oryza sativa), maize (Zea mays) and potato (Solanum tuberosum). Multigene engineering has been used to modify three different metabolic pathways simultaneously, producing maize seeds with higher levels of carotenoids, folate and ascorbate. This strategy may allow the development of nutritionally enhanced staples providing adequate amounts of several unrelated nutrients. By focusing on different steps in the carotenoid biosynthesis pathway, it is also possible to generate plants with enhanced levels of several nutritionally-beneficial carotenoid molecules simultaneously.
authors: Departament de Producció Vegetal i Ciència Forestal, Universitat de Lleida-CRA, Av. Alcalde Rovira Roure, 191, Lleida 25198, Spain.
authors: Gemma
authors: G
authors: Farré
authors: Chao
authors: C
authors: Bai
authors: Richard M
authors: RM
authors: Twyman
authors: Teresa
authors: T
authors: Capell
authors: Paul
authors: P
authors: Christou
authors: Changfu
authors: C
authors: Zhu
mesh_terms: D002338:Carotenoids / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D018556:Crops, Agricultural / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D005818:Genetic Engineering; D014975:Lutein / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D009753:Nutritive Value; D012275:Oryza / Q000378:metabolism*; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified / Q000378:metabolism; D011198:Solanum tuberosum / Q000378:metabolism*; D024341:Xanthophylls / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D003313:Zea mays / Q000378:metabolism*; D065146:Zeaxanthins
chemical_list: D024341:Xanthophylls; D065146:Zeaxanthins; D002338:Carotenoids; D014975:Lutein