Raviraj Banakar

Bacillus thuringiensis : a century of research, development and commercial applications

Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) is a soil bacterium that forms spores during the stationary phase of its growth cycle. The spores contain crystals, predominantly comprising one or more Cry and/or Cyt proteins (also known as δ-endotoxins) that have potent and specific insecticidal activity. Different strains of Bt produce different types of toxin, each of which affects a narrow taxonomic group of insects. Therefore, Bt toxins have been used as topical pesticides to protect crops, and more recently the proteins have been expressed in transgenic plants to confer inherent pest resistance. Bt transgenic crops have been overwhelmingly successful and beneficial, leading to higher yields and reducing the use of chemical pesticides and fossil fuels. However, their deployment has attracted some criticism particularly with regard to the potential evolution of pest-resistant insect strains. Here, we review recent progress in the development of Bt technology and the countermeasures that have been introduced to prevent the evolution of resistant insect populations.

Biofortification of plants with altered antioxidant content and composition: genetic engineering strategies

Antioxidants are protective molecules that neutralize reactive oxygen species and prevent oxidative damage to cellular components such as membranes, proteins and nucleic acids, therefore reducing the rate of cell death and hence the effects of ageing and ageing-related diseases. The fortification of food with antioxidants represents an overlap between two diverse environments, namely fortification of staple foods with essential nutrients that happen to have antioxidant properties (e.g. vitamins C and E) and the fortification of luxury foods with health-promoting but non-essential antioxidants such as flavonoids as part of the nutraceuticals/functional foods industry. Although processed foods can be artificially fortified with vitamins, minerals and nutraceuticals, a more sustainable approach is to introduce the traits for such health-promoting compounds at source, an approach known as biofortification. Regardless of the target compound, the same challenges arise when considering the biofortification of plants with antioxidants, that is the need to modulate endogenous metabolic pathways to increase the production of specific antioxidants without affecting plant growth and development and without collateral effects on other metabolic pathways. These challenges become even more intricate as we move from the engineering of individual pathways to several pathways simultaneously. In this review, we consider the state of the art in antioxidant biofortification and discuss the challenges that remain to be overcome in the development of nutritionally complete and health-promoting functional foods.

The contribution of transgenic plants to better health through improved nutrition: opportunities and constraints.

Malnutrition is a prevalent and entrenched global socioeconomic challenge that reflects the combined impact of poverty, poor access to food, inefficient food distribution infrastructure, and an over-reliance on subsistence mono-agriculture. The dependence on staple cereals lacking many essential nutrients means that malnutrition is endemic in developing countries. Most individuals lack diverse diets and are therefore exposed to nutrient deficiencies. Plant biotechnology could play a major role in combating malnutrition through the engineering of nutritionally enhanced crops. In this article, we discuss different approaches that can enhance the nutritional content of staple crops by genetic engineering (GE) as well as the functionality and safety assessments required before nutritionally enhanced GE crops can be deployed in the field. We also consider major constraints that hinder the adoption of GE technology at different levels and suggest policies that could be adopted to accelerate the deployment of nutritionally enhanced GE crops within a multicomponent strategy to combat malnutrition.

The potential impact of plant biotechnology on the Millennium Development Goals

The eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are international development targets for the year 2015 that aim to achieve relative improvements in the standards of health, socioeconomic status and education in the world’s poorest countries. Many of the challenges addressed by the MDGs reflect the direct or indirect consequences of subsistence agriculture in the developing world, and hence, plant biotechnology has an important role to play in helping to achieve MDG targets. In this opinion article, we discuss each of the MDGs in turn, provide examples to show how plant biotechnology may be able to accelerate progress towards the stated MDG objectives, and offer our opinion on the likelihood of such technology being implemented. In combination with other strategies, plant biotechnology can make a contribution towards sustainable development in the future although the extent to which progress can be made in today’s political climate depends on how we deal with current barriers to adoption.

Paradoxical EU agricultural policies on genetically engineered crops

European Union (EU) agricultural policy has been developed in the pursuit of laudable goals such as a competitive economy and regulatory harmony across the union. However, what has emerged is a fragmented, contradictory, and unworkable legislative framework that threatens economic disaster. In this review, we present case studies highlighting differences in the regulations applied to foods grown in EU countries and identical imported products, which show that the EU is undermining its own competitiveness in the agricultural sector, damaging both the EU and its humanitarian activities in the developing world. We recommend the adoption of rational, science-based principles for the harmonization of agricultural policies to prevent economic decline and lower standards of living across the continent.

Can the world afford to ignore biotechnology solutions that address food insecurity

Genetically engineered (GE) crops can be used as part of a combined strategy to address food insecurity, which is defined as a lack of sustainable access to safe and nutritious food. In this article, we discuss the causes and consequences of food insecurity in the developing world, and the indirect economic impact on industrialized countries. We dissect the healthcare costs and lost productivity caused by food insecurity, and evaluate the relative merits of different intervention programs including supplementation, fortification and the deployment of GE crops with higher yields and enhanced nutritional properties. We provide clear evidence for the numerous potential benefits of GE crops, particularly for small-scale and subsistence farmers. GE crops with enhanced yields and nutritional properties constitute a vital component of any comprehensive strategy to tackle poverty, hunger and malnutrition in developing countries and thus reduce the global negative economic effects of food insecurity.

Engineering metabolic pathways in plants by multigene transformation.

Metabolic engineering in plants can be used to increase the abundance of specific valuable metabolites, but single-point interventions generally do not improve the yields of target metabolites unless that product is immediately downstream of the intervention point and there is a plentiful supply of precursors. In many cases, an intervention is necessary at an early bottleneck, sometimes the first committed step in the pathway, but is often only successful in shifting the bottleneck downstream, sometimes also causing the accumulation of an undesirable metabolic intermediate. Occasionally it has been possible to induce multiple genes in a pathway by controlling the expression of a key regulator, such as a transcription factor, but this strategy is only possible if such master regulators exist and can be identified. A more robust approach is the simultaneous expression of multiple genes in the pathway, preferably representing every critical enzymatic step, therefore removing all bottlenecks and ensuring completely unrestricted metabolic flux. This approach requires the transfer of multiple enzyme-encoding genes to the recipient plant, which is achieved most efficiently if all genes are transferred at the same time. Here we review the state of the art in multigene transformation as applied to metabolic engineering in plants, highlighting some of the most significant recent advances in the field.

The expression of heterologous Fe (III) phytosiderophore transporter HvYS1 in rice increases Fe uptake, translocation and seed loading and excludes heavy metals by selective Fe transport

Summary Many metal transporters in plants are promiscuous, accommodating multiple divalent cations including some which are toxic to humans. Previous attempts to increase the iron (Fe) and zinc (Zn) content of rice endosperm by overexpressing different metal transporters have therefore led unintentionally to the accumulation of copper (Cu), manganese (Mn) and cadmium (Cd). Unlike other metal transporters, barley Yellow Stripe 1 (HvYS1) is specific for Fe. We investigated the mechanistic basis of this preference by constitutively expressing HvYS1 in rice under the control of the maize ubiquitin1 promoter and comparing the mobilization and loading of different metals. Plants expressing HvYS1 showed modest increases in Fe uptake, root‐to‐shoot translocation, seed accumulation and endosperm loading, but without any change in the uptake and root‐to‐shoot translocation of Zn, Mn or Cu, confirming the selective transport of Fe. The concentrations of Zn and Mn in the endosperm did not differ significantly between the wild‐type and HvYS1 lines, but the transgenic endosperm contained significantly lower concentrations of Cu. Furthermore, the transgenic lines showed a significantly reduced Cd uptake, root‐to‐shoot translocation and accumulation in the seeds. The underlying mechanism of metal uptake and translocation reflects the down‐regulation of promiscuous endogenous metal transporters revealing an internal feedback mechanism that limits seed loading with Fe. This promotes the preferential mobilization and loading of Fe, therefore displacing Cu and Cd in the seed.

Phytosiderophores determine thresholds for iron and zinc accumulation in biofortified rice endosperm while inhibiting the accumulation of cadmium

We unravel the mechanisms that set upper limits for iron and zinc accumulation in rice endosperm while inhibiting the accumulation of cadmium.

Iron and Zinc in the Embryo and Endosperm of Rice (Oryza sativa L.) Seeds in Contrasting 2′-Deoxymugineic Acid/Nicotianamine Scenarios

Iron and Zn deficiencies are worldwide nutritional disorders that can be alleviated by increasing the metal concentration of rice (Oryza sativa L.) grains via bio-fortification approaches. The overproduction of the metal chelator nicotianamine (NA) is among the most effective ones, but it is still unclear whether this is due to the enrichment in NA itself and/or the concomitant enrichment in the NA derivative 2′-deoxymugineic acid (DMA). The endosperm is the most commonly consumed portion of the rice grain and mediates the transfer of nutrients from vegetative tissues to the metal rich embryo. The impact of contrasting levels of DMA and NA on the metal distribution in the embryo and endosperm of rice seeds has been assessed using wild-type rice and six different transgenic lines overexpressing nicotianamine synthase (OsNAS1) and/or barley nicotianamine amino transferase (HvNAATb). These transgenic lines outlined three different DMA/NA scenarios: (i) in a first scenario, an enhanced NA level (via overexpression of OsNAS1) would not be fully depleted because of a limited capacity to use NA for DMA synthesis (lack of -or low- expression of HvNAATb), and results in consistent enrichments in NA, DMA, Fe and Zn in the endosperm and NA, DMA and Fe in the embryo; (ii) in a second scenario, an enhanced NA level (via overexpression of OsNAS1) would be depleted by an enhanced capacity to use NA for DMA synthesis (via expression of HvNAATb), and results in enrichments only for DMA and Fe, both in the endosperm and embryo, and (iii) in a third scenario, the lack of sufficient NA replenishment would limit DMA synthesis, in spite of the enhanced capacity to use NA for this purpose (via expression of HvNAATb), and results in decreases in NA, variable changes in DMA and moderate decreases in Fe in the embryo and endosperm. Also, quantitative LA-ICP-MS metal map images of the embryo structures show that the first and second scenarios altered local distributions of Fe, and to a lesser extent of Zn. The roles of DMA/NA levels in the transport of Fe and Zn within the embryo are thoroughly discussed.