Whole shoot mineral partitioning and accumulation in pea (Pisum sativum)

Several grain legumes are staple food crops that are important sources of minerals for humans; unfortunately, our knowledge is incomplete with respect to the mechanisms of translocation of these minerals to the vegetative tissues and loading into seeds. Understanding the mechanism and partitioning of minerals in pea could help in developing cultivars with high mineral density. A mineral partitioning study was conducted in pea to assess whole-plant growth and mineral content and the potential source-sink remobilization of different minerals, especially during seed development. Shoot and root mineral content increased for all the minerals, although tissue-specific partitioning differed between the minerals. Net remobilization was observed for P, S, Cu, and Fe from both the vegetative tissues and pod wall, but the amounts remobilized were much below the total accumulation in the seeds. Within the mature pod, more minerals were partitioned to the seed fraction (\u3e75%) at maturity than to the pod wall for all the minerals except Ca, where only 21% was partitioned to the seed fraction. Although there was evidence for net remobilization of some minerals from different tissues into seeds, continued uptake and translocation of minerals to source tissues during seed fill is as important, if not more important, than remobilization of previously stored minerals

Leaf Protein and Mineral Concentrations across the “Miracle Tree” Genus Moringa

The moringa tree Moringa oleifera is a fast-growing, drought-resistant tree cultivated across the lowland dry tropics worldwide for its nutritious leaves. Despite its nutritious reputation, there has been no systematic survey of the variation in leaf nutritional quality across M. oleifera grown worldwide, or of the other species of the genus. To guide informed use of moringa, we surveyed protein, macro-, and micro- nutrients across 67 common garden samples of 12 Moringa taxa, including 23 samples of M. oleifera. Moringa oleifera, M. concanensis, M. stenopetala, an M. concanensis X oleifera hybrid, and M. longituba were highest in protein, with M. ruspoliana having the highest calcium levels. A protein-dry leaf mass tradeoff may preclude certain breeding possibilities, e.g. maximally high protein with large leaflets. These findings identify clear priorities and limitations for improved moringa varieties with traits such as high protein, calcium, or ease of preparation

Moving micronutrients from the soil to the seeds: Genes and physiological processes from a biofortification perspective

The micronutrients iron (Fe), zinc (Zn), and copper (Cu) are essential for plants and the humans and animals that consume plants. Increasing the micronutrient density of staple crops, or biofortification, will greatly improve human nutrition on a global scale. This review discusses the processes and genes needed to translocate micronutrients through the plant to the developing seeds, and potential strategies for developing biofortified crops

Effects of Zinc Fertilization on Grain Cadmium Accumulation, Gene Expression, and Essential Mineral Partitioning in Rice

Cadmium (Cd) is a toxic heavy metal that can cause severe health issues if ingested. Certain varieties of rice can accumulate high levels of the metal in edible tissues thereby transferring the toxin into the food chain. As chemical analogs, interactions between the essential mineral zinc and the toxic heavy metal cadmium play an important role in regulating the transport of both minerals to rice grains. Understanding these interactions is crucial for limiting cadmium and increasing zinc transfer to the food chain. Previous studies have reported conflicting results suggesting synergistic and antagonistic relationships between the minerals. The goal of this work was to identify the effect of external cadmium and zinc on the uptake and translocation of both minerals from roots to grains of rice that differ in grain cadmium concentrations. The results showed that a higher input of external zinc increased cadmium translocation and accumulation to the grain in two of three varieties, while external cadmium does not influence zinc accumulation. Cadmium synergy and antagonism with other essential minerals were also examined and the effects differed between rice lines. Our results showed that the differential expression of the transport proteins OsNramp5, OsHMA2, and OsHMA3 as well as genes involved in the synthesis of glutathione and phytochelatin could have contributed to differences in grain Cd accumulation. These results add to the knowledge of cadmium and zinc partitioning in one of the most consumed plant foods in the world and can assist fortification efforts to establish rice lines that are both safe and nutritious

Pearson correlation matrix between nutrients plus LMA.

<p>Pearson correlation matrix between nutrients plus LMA.</p

Plot of the first two principal components of the PCA of <i>Moringa</i> protein, macro- and micro- nutrient variation across species.

<p>Plot of the first two principal components of the PCA of <i>Moringa</i> protein, macro- and micro- nutrient variation across species.</p

Boxplots and homogeneous groups for protein and macronutrients across <i>Moringa</i> species.

<p>(A) Total protein, (B) soluble protein, (C) The relationship between soluble and total protein has a slope of ≈1, showing that though there is some variation between methods, this variation seems random and they reflect essentially the same quantities. (D) Ca, (E) K, (F) Mg, (G) P, (F) S. Boxplots are based on the median. Species abbreviations as follows: bo = <i>M</i>. <i>borziana</i>, co = <i>M</i>. <i>concanensis</i>, dr = <i>M</i>. <i>drouhardii</i>, hi = <i>M</i>. <i>hildebrandtii</i>, lo = <i>M</i>. <i>longituba</i>, ol = <i>M</i>. <i>oleifera</i>, ov = <i>M</i>. <i>ovalifolia</i>, pe = <i>M</i>. <i>peregrina</i> leaflets, pr = <i>M</i>. <i>peregrina</i> rachis, ri = <i>M</i>. <i>rivae</i>, ru = <i>M</i>. <i>ruspoliana</i>, st = <i>M</i>. <i>stenopetala</i>, X = <i>M</i>. <i>concanensis</i> X <i>oleifera</i>. Letters denote statistically homogeneous groups as indicated by non-parametric posthoc tests.</p

Kruskal-Wallis tests on the 14 nutrients examined.

<p>Kruskal-Wallis tests on the 14 nutrients examined.</p

First three principal components from the PCA and variance explained by each, with nutrients with high loadings in each component shown in bold.

<p>First three principal components from the PCA and variance explained by each, with nutrients with high loadings in each component shown in bold.</p