A paper in Nature Plants tries to address vitamin D deficiency by genetically modifying tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) plants so that the fruit contains a significant amount of provitamin D3 which is a precursor from which humans can make vitamin D.<\/p>\n
The term \u2018invisible\u2019 hunger is used for diseases caused by a deficiency of vitamins and minerals in the diet. This is a major problem in developing countries. Hence, genetically modifying plants to produce biofortified leaves and fruit is one of the solutions to address the hidden hunger.<\/p>\n
Provitamin D3 is a precursor from which humans can make vitamin D. The chemical name of Provitamin D3 is 7-dehydrocholesterol, or 7-DHC. Humans can synthesise vitamin D from 7-DHC when they are exposed to ultraviolet B (UVB) light.<\/p>\n
Vitamin D3 is also present in fish and dairy products.<\/p>\n
Functions of Vitamin D<\/strong>: It is needed for a process known as calcium homeostasis which is the maintenance of a constant concentration of calcium ions in the body.<\/p>\n Hence, vitamin D is needed primarily for bone development and strength.<\/p>\n Recommended intake<\/strong>: 15 micrograms per day for children and 20 micrograms per day for elders. This can be given through supplements or a careful exposure to sunlight.<\/p>\n But vegetarian diets are particularly deficient in Vitamin D.<\/p>\n Deficiency<\/strong>: Vitamin D deficiency can cause conditions such as rickets and osteoporosis<\/strong>. Other diseases that are associated with vitamin D deficiency are cancer, Parkinson\u2019s disease and dementia.<\/p>\n In untreated tomato plants, 7-DHC is present in leaves and to a lower extent in green fruit, but not in ripe fruit. This is because 7-DHC is converted into cholesterol in fruit.<\/p>\n Recently, a scientist discovered a pathway in tomato plants to produce cholesterol and a substance called steroidal glycoalkaloid (SGA for short) using the CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing tool. This inhibits the conversion of 7-DHC to cholesterol.<\/p>\n The researchers showed that in their modified plants there is a \u201csubstantial increase of 7-DHC levels in leaves and green fruit,\u201d but levels of 7-DHC were lower in ripe fruits of the mutant.<\/p>\n However, the amount in one tomato would be equivalent to that in two eggs or 28 grams of tuna, both of which are recommended sources of vitamin D.<\/p>\n Reduction in Alpha-tomatine<\/strong>: Alpha-tomatine is reported toxicant or antinutritional activity. The researchers report that the mutant tomatoes showed a reduction of alpha-tomatine in their leaves.<\/p>\n Alpha-tomatine is believed to have a role in the plant\u2019s resistance to viral, fungal, insect and herbivoral attacks. Hence, the reduction of alpha-tomatine in the mutants may not necessarily be a good thing.<\/p>\n High levels of cholesterol<\/strong>: Despite blocking the conversion of 7-DHC to cholesterol, the cholesterol levels in both fruit and leaves of the mutants were higher than of the wild-type. This need to be studied further.<\/p>\n Source:\u00a0<\/b>The post is based on the article \u201cEngineering tomatoes to produce vitamin D\u201d <\/b>published in\u00a0The Hindu <\/b>on 24th May 2022.<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" What is the News? A paper in Nature Plants tries to address vitamin D deficiency by genetically modifying tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) plants so that the fruit contains a significant amount of provitamin D3 which is a precursor from which humans can make vitamin D. What is the need for GM Tomatoes? The term \u2018invisible\u2019 hunger… Continue reading GM tomatoes: Engineering tomatoes to produce vitamin D<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10311,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1566,1738,9],"tags":[10498],"class_list":["post-186140","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-factly-articles","category-science-and-technology-daily-factly-articles","category-public","tag-the-hindu","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":{"total":0,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1701303239},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186140","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10311"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=186140"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186140\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=186140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=186140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=186140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Why tomatoes are chosen, and how did GM tomatoes address vitamin D deficiency?<\/h5>\n
What are the concerns associated with GM tomatoes?<\/h5>\n