Crop Biotech Update

Gene Editing Strategies for Reducing Phytic Acid in Crops

June 14, 2023

Removal of anti-nutrients in cereals may lead to healthier grains. Thus, researchers have used various techniques to reduce anti-nutrients in plants. These techniques include gene editing tools such as TALEN, ZFN, and CRISPR-Cas9.

Anti-nutrients are substances that are naturally present or of synthetic origin, then inactivates nutrients of impedes their use in metabolic processes. One example of anti-nutrients is phytic acid. It has a strong binding affinity with several minerals such as iron, zinc, magnesium, calcium, manganese, and cadmium and blocks their proper metabolism. Using biotech tools, researchers have targeted the reduction phytic acid through the enzymes involved in the biosynthetic pathway of phytic acid.

In a review article, researchers from India's Council of Scientific and Industrial Research presents potential applications of TALENs and other gene editing tools to knock out the desired genes, and RNAi for their silencing.

Read the full article in Molecular Biotechnology.


You might also like: