Articles and Reviews

Authors: Dominique Van Der Straeten, Navreet K. Bhullar, Hans De Steur, Wilhelm Gruissem, Donald MacKenzie, Wolfgang Pfeiffer, Matin Qaim, Inez Slamet-Loedin, Simon Strobbe, Joe Tohme, Kurniawan Rudi Trijatmiko, Hervé Vanderschuren, Marc Van Montagu, Chunyi Zhang & Howarth Bouis

An international team of scientists led by Ghent University recently published a Perspective paper in Nature Communications describing how plant genetic engineering can help to fight micronutrient deficiency in food-insecure regions. This so-called ‘hidden hunger’ occurs when food quality does not meet the necessary vitamins and minerals for normal growth and development. More than 2 billion people are affected worldwide, whose diet is dominated by staple food crops rich in calories but poor in micronutrients. Microminerals and vitamins regulate important metabolic processes that play crucial roles in human physical and mental development. For instance, vitamin A and zinc deficiency are leading risk factors for child mortality. Iron and folate deficiency contribute to anaemia and physical and cognitive development problems. Childhood stunting is associated with micronutrient malnutrition in children, starting from fetal development to four years of age. The ideal solution for overcoming hidden hunger will come from reducing poverty so that people can afford a diet rich in fruits and vegetables loaded with micronutrients, with better education and awareness of the importance of healthy nutrition.
Meanwhile, it is possible to develop biofortified staple crops in the short and medium run. Transgenic approaches are the only alternative for engineering metabolic pathways to improve micronutrients in a crop where they do not occur naturally. They also allow achieving much higher micronutrient levels in crops than conventional plant breeding, thus increasing food nutritional efficacy. Another advantage of genetic engineering is that high amounts of several micronutrients can be combined in the same crop, which is very important to fight stunting.
The authors acknowledge that many people oppose GMOs. One of the reasons is misinformation spread by anti-GMO activism that, without any scientific evidence, asserted that genetically modified crops and foods would cause harm to health and the environment. Paradoxically, the indiscriminate resistance to GM crop biotechnology is impeding the development of crops that could help those whom activists want to protect, namely resource-poor farmers.
Nonetheless, numerous crops have already been engineered to enhance the content of vitamins, minerals, essential amino acids, and essential fatty acids, Golden Rice being the best-known example. Many of these projects are being developed in and for low-income countries, particularly in Africa, often through collaborative consortiums between public institutions, philanthropic organizations and even some agribusiness corporations.

Authors: Piet van der Meer, Geert Angenon, Hans Bergmans, Hans Joerg Buhk, Sam Callebaut, Merijn Chamon, Dennis Eriksson, Godelieve Gheysen, Wendy Harwood, Penny Hundleby, Peter Kearns, Thomas McLoughlin, Tomasz Zimny.

Author(s) : Marc Heijde

Authors: Obi Chinedu, Edouard Sanou, Juan Tur-Cardona, Fabio Bartolini, Godelieve Gheysen, Stijn Speelman. (2018).
 

Authors: Rüdelsheim Patrick, Dumont, Philippe, Freyssinet Georges, Pertry Ine and Heijde Marc. (2018).
 

Authors: Lokko Yvonne, Heijde Marc, Schebesta Karl, Scholtès Philippe, Van Montagu Marc and Giacca Mauro. (2018).