title: Improving folate (vitamin B9) stability in biofortified rice through metabolic engineering.
abstract: Biofortification of staple crops could help to alleviate micronutrient deficiencies in humans. We show that folates in stored rice grains are unstable, which reduces the potential benefits of folate biofortification. We obtain folate concentrations that are up to 150 fold higher than those of wild-type rice by complexing folate to folate-binding proteins to improve folate stability, thereby enabling long-term storage of biofortified high-folate rice grains.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Functional Plant Biology, Department of Physiology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Dieter
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Blancquaert
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Toxicology, Department of Bioanalysis, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Jeroen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Van Daele
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Functional Plant Biology, Department of Physiology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Simon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Strobbe
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Toxicology, Department of Bioanalysis, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Filip
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Kiekens
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Functional Plant Biology, Department of Physiology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Sergei
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Storozhenko
authors.affiliation: Division Agri-Food Marketing &Chain Management, Department of Agricultural Economics, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Hans
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: De Steur
authors.affiliation: Division Agri-Food Marketing &Chain Management, Department of Agricultural Economics, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Xavier
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Gellynck
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Toxicology, Department of Bioanalysis, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Willy
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Lambert
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Toxicology, Department of Bioanalysis, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Christophe
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7126-348X
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Stove
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Functional Plant Biology, Department of Physiology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Dominique
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7755-1420
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Van Der Straeten
mesh_terms: D019587:Dietary Supplements; D004355:Drug Stability; D005492:Folic Acid / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics*; D024861:Genetic Enhancement / Q000379:methods*; D060847:Metabolic Engineering / Q000379:methods*; D012275:Oryza / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics*; D010940:Plant Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D010940:Plant Proteins; D005492:Folic Acid