Genetically Modified Plants for Nutritionally Improved Food: A Promise Kept?

ABSTRACT

Plant biotechnologies have demonstrated to be a resource to cope with world population growth and environmental sustainability by increasing yield and partially reducing reliance upon agrochemicals. Nevertheless, despite several nutritionally enhanced crops have been obtained through genetic manipulation, their deployment in agriculture – to date – still remains marginal. In this article, we discuss the different GM approaches effectively employed to produce nutritionally improved food crops, as well as the future perspectives to overcome the barriers preventing the wide cultivation/commercialization of these products.

KEYWORDS:

• Biofortified crops
• somatic hybridization
• mutagenesis
• genetic engineering

Notes

¹ Se declara al Ecuador libre de cultivos y semillas transgénicas. Excepcionalmente, y sólo en caso de interés nacional debidamente fundamentado por la Presidencia de la República y aprobado por la Asamblea Nacional, se podrán introducir semillas y cultivos genéticamente modificados.