Vitamin C healthy pic-up for plants

Because most major commodity crops have low levels of vitamin C, the researchers want to take a leaf out of certain superfruits’ DNA – which have high levels – to help fortify staple crops. There are many methods to turn on genes that boost vitamin C in plants, so a multi-pronged approach should be taken, they say.

Their work was supported by the University of Otago School of Biomedical Sciences Bequest Fund and a grant from the Australian Research Council.

Ascorbate – or vitamin C – is an essential human micronutrient predominantly obtained from plants. In addition to preventing scurvy, it is now known to have broader roles in human health. For example, as a co-factor for enzymes involved in epigenetic programming and as regulator of cellular iron uptake.

Furthermore, ascorbate is the major antioxidant in plants and underpins many environmentally induced abiotic stress responses. Biotechnological approaches to enhance the ascorbate content of crops therefore have potential to improve both human health and abiotic stress tolerance of crops. Identifying the genetic basis of ascorbate variation between plant varieties and discovering how some ‘superfruits’ accumulate extremely high levels of ascorbate should reveal new ways to more effectively manipulate the production of ascorbate in crops.


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