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Cornell University researchers' discovery of what makes some cauliflower orange could lead to more nutritious staple crops
Un gen del coliflor naranja podría servir para mejorar otros cultivos

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Ithaca, New York
June 1, 2007

While orange cauliflower may seem unappealing to some, it has distinct nutritional advantages. Now, Cornell University researchers have identified the genetic mutation behind the unusual hue. The finding may lead to more nutritious staple crops, including maize, potato, rice, sorghum and wheat.

The genetic mutation recently isolated by Cornell plant geneticist Li Li and colleagues -- and described in the December issue of The Plant Cell -- allows the vegetable to hold more beta-carotene, which causes the orange color and is a precursor to the essential nutrient vitamin A. While cauliflower and many staple crops have the ability to synthesize beta-carotene, they are limited partially because they lack a "metabolic sink," or a place to store the compound.

Developing staple crops with more vitamin A is important because vitamin A deficiency, common in developing countries, leads to compromised immune systems and is the leading cause of blindness in children.

"A large percentage of the human population depends on staple crops for nutrition," said Li, an adjunct assistant professor in the Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics and a scientist at the U.S.
Department of Agriculture -- Agricultural Research Service's U.S.
Plant, Soil and Nutrition Laboratory at Cornell. "The research provides a possible new technique for genetically modifying staple crops to increase their ability to store beta-carotene and increase nutritional content in staple crops."

Other researchers have created "golden rice" by inserting several genes that increases the synthesis of beta-carotene. But this technique has proved less effective in many plants. Li's research, which increases a plant's ability to store beta-carotene, may offer an alternate and complementary technique for making staple crops more nutritious.

Li, in collaboration with Joyce Van Eck from the Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research at Cornell, is currently working on transgenic potatoes, altering genes to increase both the metabolic sink and beta-carotene synthesis.

Orange cauliflower was first discovered in a farmer's white cauliflower field in Canada about 30 years ago and is now available at supermarkets.

By Krishna Ramanujan
 

Source: ArgenBio

Un gen del coliflor naranja podría servir para mejorar otros cultivos

Los científicos descubrieron una mutación en un gen del coliflor que le otorga un color naranja, debido a su alto contenido en beta caroteno. Ahora están investigando la posibilidad de transferir este gen a otras plantas, como las papas, para aumentar su valor nutritivo. El coliflor naranja fue descubierto hace unos 30 años, creciendo entre los coliflores blancos de una huerta. Hacia fines del año pasado el experto en genética vegetal Li Li y sus colegas de la Universidad de Cornell informaron en un artículo de la revista Plant Cell que habían descubierto y aislado la mutación genética responsable por tal color. El color naranja se debe a la acumulación de beta caroteno, el precursor de la vitamina A, que también es sintetizado en el coliflor blanco, aunque en éste no se acumula. Los investigadores hoy saben que un pequeño cambio en un gen hace que el beta caroteno se acumule, o sea que podrían modificar a propósito los genes correspondientes de otros cultivos, para que también acumulen beta-caroteno. La vitamina A y su precursor son compuestos muy importantes ya que la deficiencia en estos nutrientes es un problema de salud en los países en desarrollo, causando principalmente ceguera en los niños. Esta no es la primera vez que se piensa en aumentar los niveles de beta caroteno en los cultivos. Un ejemplo es el arroz dorado, modificado por ingeniería genética para acumular altos niveles del precursor de la vitamina A. La estrategia de Li sería diferente, y se podría usar como una alternativa a la usada en el arroz dorado.

 

 

 

 

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