CRISPR-mediated iron and folate biofortification in crops: advances and perspectives

ABSTRACT

Micronutrient deficiency conditions, such as anemia, are the most prevalent global health problem due to inadequate iron and folate in dietary sources. Biofortification advancements can propel the rapid amelioration of nutritionally beneficial components in crops that are required to combat the adverse effects of micronutrient deficiencies on human health. To date, several strategies have been proposed to increase micronutrients in plants to improve food quality, but very few approaches have intrigued `clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats’ (CRISPR) modules for the enhancement of iron and folate concentration in the edible parts of plants. In this review, we discuss two important approaches to simultaneously enhance the bioavailability of iron and folate concentrations in rice endosperms by utilizing advanced CRISPR-Cas9-based technology. This includes the ‘tuning of cis-elements’ and ‘enhancer re-shuffling’ in the regulatory components of genes that play a vital role in iron and folate biosynthesis/transportation pathways. In particular, base-editing and enhancer re-installation in native promoters of selected genes can lead to enhanced accumulation of iron and folate levels in the rice endosperm. The re-distribution of micronutrients in specific plant organs can be made possible using the above-mentioned contemporary approaches. Overall, the present review discusses the possible approaches for synchronized iron and folate biofortification through modification in regulatory gene circuits employing CRISPR-Cas9 technology.

KEYWORDS:

• Biofortification
• iron
• folic acid
• CRISPR
• enhancer re-shuffling

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to express their gratitude to the Institute of Life sciences, Odisha, India; Lovely Professional University (LPU), Punjab, India; the Biology Centre for Czech academy of sciences (CAS), Czech Republic; the University of South Bohemia in Czech Republic; Khalifa Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, United Arab Emirates University in UAE.

Author contributions

Conceived and designed the study: AK, ND and BK. Collected the data: AK, AS, and AKM. Analyzed the data: AK, BP, BK and ND. Wrote the paper: AK, AS, AKM, BP, BK, MPS and ND. All authors have read and approved the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported that there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.