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Biol Trace Elem Res (2011) 142:232241
DOI 10.1007/s12011-010-8754-6
Gujulla B Sunil Kumar & Lingam Srinivas & Thumballi Ramabhatta Ganapathi
Received: 1 April 2010 /Accepted: 17 June 2010 /
Published online: 3 July 2010# Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2010
Abstract Iron deficiency anemia is one of the serious ailments related to nutrition in the developing countries. Fruit and vegetable crops favor the bioavailability of iron. Banana is consumed as a staple food in the tropics. Iron-fortified bananas provide an effective means of controlling the iron deficiency. Embryogenic cells of banana cv. Rasthali (AAB) were transformed with soybean ferritin cDNA using two different expression cassettes pSF and pEFE-SF to express ferritin. Transgenic nature of the regenerated plants was confirmed by PCR. Transgenic plants were regenerated and analyzed through PCR and PCR-Southern analysis. The expression of ferritin was confirmed by RT-PCR. Iron and zinc levels in the transgenic and control plants were estimated by atomic absorption spectroscopy. A 6.32-fold increase in iron accumulation and a 4.58-fold increase in the zinc levels were noted in the leaves of transgenic plants. Thus, iron- and zinc-fortified bananas could be developed as a functional food to overcome the malnutrition-related iron deficiency. This is the first report on the iron and zinc fortification of banana.
Keywords Banana . Iron deficiency anemia . Transgenic plants . Zinc accumulation
Introduction
The iron deficiency anemia has been estimated to affect about 30% of world population [1], making the trace element iron by far the most prevalent nutritional deficiency disorder worldwide. Iron deficiency anemia has several functional effects including the reduction in circulating hemoglobin and reduced psychomotor and mental development in infants. It
L. Srinivas : T. R. Ganapathi (*)
Plant Cell Culture Technology Section, Nuclear Agriculture and Biotechnology Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Trombay, Mumbai 400 085, Indiae-mail: [email protected]
Present Address:G. B. S. Kumar (*)
Molecular Plant-Microbe interactions group, School of Biology and Environmental Science, University College Dublin, Science West, Belfield, Dublin-4, Irelande-mail: [email protected]
Iron Fortification of Banana by the Expression of Soybean Ferritin
Iron Fortification of Banana by the Expression of Soybean Ferritin 233
also contributes to other symptoms such as poor pregnancy outcome, decreased immune function, tiredness, and poor work efficiency [2]. The treatment of iron deficiency mainly constitutes supplementation with pharmaceutical formulations or...