More than 2 billion people worldwide are malnourished due to zinc deficiency. An international group of researchers, led by the University of Copenhagen, discovered how plants sense zinc and used this knowledge to improve zinc uptake by plants, resulting in a 50% increase in zinc content in seeds. In the future, this new knowledge may be used to grow more nutritious crops.
Lack of zinc and other essential dietary nutrients is one of the largest causes of malnutrition worldwide. More than 2 billion people are estimated to struggle with zinc deficiency, a problem that can cause compromised immune systems, mental disorders and developmental delays. Among other factors, malnutrition can be caused by unfertilized farmland, which affects the nutritional content of staple crops like rice, wheat and corn.
But imagine it was possible to flip crops during the seed stage, turbocharging their intake of zinc, iron or other nutrients and allowing them to absorb more nutrients. Researchers from the Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences at the University of Copenhagen used the Arabidopsis thaliana plant.
"For the first time, we have demonstrated that by using a molecular 'switch' in plants, we can make the plants take up more zinc without significant negative effects on the plants," noted the study leader. The author is Ana Assunção, associate professor at the Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences at the University of Copenhagen.
Zinc benefits humans by assisting in maintaining a wide range of chemical processes and proteins in the body. If these processes stop functioning properly, we will be susceptible to illness. Zinc deficiency mainly affects growth for plants, and zinc deficiency adversely affects growth.
Researchers have long tried to understand how plants increase and decrease zinc absorption. Ana Assunção and her colleagues have become the first zinc sensors to identify two specific proteins from Arabidopsis thaliana and determine the plant's ability to take up and transport zinc throughout plant tissues.
By changing the properties of these sensors, or molecular "switches," that control the tight junction network of zinc transporters, the researchers made them absorb more zinc.
"In short, by making very small changes to the sensor, we tricked the plant into believing it was permanently deficient in zinc. This caused the plant's zinc uptake equipment to operate and increased zinc levels compared to normal plants. Then, the sugar content in the seeds can be increased by up to 50%," explains Grmay Lilay, first author of the study and a postdoc in the Ascension Laboratory.
The researchers demonstrated that it is possible to increase zinc uptake in their experimental plants, but the next step is to reproduce the results in real crops. And researchers have done just that well.
"We are currently working on reproducing our results in legumes, rice and tomato plants. We will have some interesting opportunities to develop more nutritious and biofortified crops if successful. Biofortification is a way to improve micronutrients in the human diet content," said Associate Professor Assuncao.
In the longer term, the researchers' results could be applied through CRISPR gene editing or by selecting natural crop varieties with particularly good abilities to absorb nutrients such as zinc. Grmay Lilay concluded: "The availability of huge genomic resources will aid our efforts to find crop varieties that may show higher zinc accumulation."
Zinc is an vital trace element involved in synthesizing and activating various enzymes and plays important physiological functions in protein and nucleic acid synthesis and intestinal protein absorption and digestion. Zinc can promote growth and development, maintain normal appetite and taste, enhance the phagocytic ability, chemotactic activity, and bactericidal function of phagocytes, and accelerate the healing of wounds, burns, and ulcers. Zinc plays an essential role in the metabolism of vitamin A and vision, promotes and maintains sexual function, stabilizes cell membranes, and improves tissue energy metabolism and tissue respiration. In addition, zinc ions can precipitate proteins.
Zinc sulfate is a commonly used zinc fertilizer with a zinc content of 23%. It is easily soluble in water. The aqueous solution is nearly neutral and easy to absorb moisture. Pay attention to moisture-proofing when storing. Zinc sulfate is currently the most commonly used zinc fertilizer variety in agriculture. It is mostly used as base fertilizer and top dressing. It can also be formulated into an aqueous solution for foliar spraying. It replenishes zinc and promotes plant growth and development.
It should be noted that zinc sulfate is generally not mixed with phosphate fertilizers, as it will have an antagonistic effect and reduce the utilization rate of zinc and phosphorus. In addition, if it is not mixed with alkaline fertilizer, it will react, so it is generally used with acidic, neutral fertilizer. At the same time, zinc sulfate needs to be covered with soil after trenching, and the effect of spreading it on the surface is poor. Corn and rice are the most sensitive to zinc. Zinc deficiency will cause symptoms such as albino seedlings, yellowing seedlings, and stiff seedlings that sit and sit.
Significant properties and structures differ between zinc sulfide (ZnS) and zinc sulfate (ZnSO4).
Zinc sulfide is a yellow crystal that is a sulfide of zinc. Zinc sulfate is a white crystal, which is the sulfate of zinc. The molecular structures of the two substances are also different and completely different compounds.
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