The problem with nutritionally enhanced plants

From disagreements to dialogue: unpacking the Golden Rice debate

Transgenic Golden Rice has been hailed as a practical solution to vitamin A deficiency, but has also been heavily criticized. To facilitate a balanced view on this polarized debate, we investigated existing arguments for and against Golden Rice from a sustainability science perspective. In a structured literature review of peer-reviewed publications on Golden Rice, we assessed to what extent 64 articles addressed 70 questions covering different aspects of sustainability. Using cluster analysis, we grouped the literature into two major branches, containing two clusters each. These clusters differed in the range and nature of the sustainability aspects addressed, disciplinary affiliation and overall evaluation of Golden Rice. The 'biotechnological' branch (clusters: 'technical effectiveness' and 'advocacy') was dominated by the natural sciences, focused on biophysical plant-consumer interactions, and evaluated Golden Rice positively. In contrast, the 'socio-systemic' branch (clusters: 'economic efficiency' and 'equity and holism') was primarily comprised of social sciences, addressed a wider variety of sustainability aspects including participation, equity, ethics and biodiversity, and more often pointed to the shortcomings of Golden Rice. There were little to no integration efforts between the two branches, and highly polarized positions arose in the clusters on 'advocacy' and 'equity and holism'. To explore this divide, we investigated the influences of disciplinary affiliations and personal values on the respective problem framings. We conclude that to move beyond a polarized debate, it may be fruitful to ground the Golden Rice discourse in facets and methods of sustainability science, with an emphasis on participation and integration of diverging interests.

Nutritionally enhanced food crops; progress and perspectives

Great progress has been made over the past decade with respect to the application of biotechnology to generate nutritionally improved food crops. Biofortified staple crops such as rice, maize and wheat harboring essential micronutrients to benefit the world's poor are under development as well as new varieties of crops which have the ability to combat chronic disease. This review discusses the improvement of the nutritional status of crops to make a positive impact on global human health. Several examples of nutritionally enhanced crops which have been developed using biotechnological approaches will be discussed. These range from biofortified crops to crops with novel abilities to fight disease. The review concludes with a discussion of hurdles faced with respect to public perception, as well as directions of future research and development for nutritionally enhanced food crops.

MS-based analytical methodologies to characterize genetically modified crops

The development of genetically modified crops has had a great impact on the agriculture and food industries. However, the development of any genetically modified organism (GMO) requires the application of analytical procedures to confirm the equivalence of the GMO compared to its isogenic non-transgenic counterpart. Moreover, the use of GMOs in foods and agriculture faces numerous criticisms from consumers and ecological organizations that have led some countries to regulate their production, growth, and commercialization. These regulations have brought about the need of new and more powerful analytical methods to face the complexity of this topic. In this regard, MS-based technologies are increasingly used for GMOs analysis to provide very useful information on GMO composition (e.g., metabolites, proteins). This review focuses on the MS-based analytical methodologies used to characterize genetically modified crops (also called transgenic crops). First, an overview on genetically modified crops development is provided, together with the main difficulties of their analysis. Next, the different MS-based analytical approaches applied to characterize GM crops are critically discussed, and include "-omics" approaches and target-based approaches. These methodologies allow the study of intended and unintended effects that result from the genetic transformation. This information is considered to be essential to corroborate (or not) the equivalence of the GM crop with its isogenic non-transgenic counterpart.