Recently, Zhang Chunyi’s Research Group from the innovation team of Crop Metabolic Regulation and Biofortification, Biotechnology Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences was invited to write a review article for Molecular Plant. This review systematically summarized the research progress of plant vitamin metabolic regulation, and new strategies of biofortification combining metabolic pathway with precision molecular breeding technology. This will put forward the prospect of creating new varieties of biofortified crops.

In the past decades, in order to ensure food supply, the application of traditional breeding, modern breeding and agronomic practice has made significant contributions to the development of sustainable agricultural system. However, at least one third of the world's population is still malnourished, and the eradication of malnutrition remains a huge challenge. The lack of micronutrients (vitamins and minerals), also known as hidden hunger, affects the health and learning ability of billions of people in the world, and is closely related to the huge economic loss of society. Biofortification of multiple micronutrients can play an important role in combating malnutrition. The challenge, however, is to balance plant growth and nutrient requirements for humans. Here, we summarized the progress in vitamin biosynthesis and its response to the changing environment. We further discussed the interactions among vitamins as well as the possible strategies for vitamin biofortification. Finally, we proposed to integrate new breeding technologies with metabolic pathway modification to facilitate biofortification of crops, thereby, alleviating the hidden hunger of target populations.

This work was supported by Ministry of Science and Technology of China, National Natural Science Foundation of China, China, and Agricultural Science and Technology Innovation Program, China. (Reporter: Yan Cui)

 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molp.2020.11.019