Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jan 31, 2026

Improving the Combustion Performance of a Hybrid Rocket Engine using a Novel Fuel Grain with a Nested Helical Structure
Published on: January 18, 2021
Metabolic engineering of bread wheat improves grain iron concentration and bioavailability
Jesse T Beasley1, Julien P Bonneau1, Jose T Sánchez-Palacios1
1School of BioSciences, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
Abstract:
Bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is cultivated on more land than any other crop and produces a fifth of the calories consumed by humans. Wheat endosperm is rich in starch yet contains low concentrations of dietary iron (Fe) and zinc (Zn). Biofortification is a micronutrient intervention aimed at increasing the density and bioavailability of essential vitamins and minerals in staple crops; Fe biofortification of wheat has proved challenging. In this study we employed constitutive expression (CE) of the rice (Oryza sativa L.) nicotianamine synthase 2 (OsNAS2) gene in bread wheat to up-regulate biosynthesis of two low molecular weight metal chelators - nicotianamine (NA) and 2'-deoxymugineic acid (DMA) - that play key roles in metal transport and nutrition. The CE-OsNAS2 plants accumulated higher concentrations of grain Fe, Zn, NA and DMA and synchrotron X-ray fluorescence microscopy (XFM) revealed enhanced localization of Fe and Zn in endosperm and crease tissues, respectively. Iron bioavailability was increased in white flour milled from field-grown CE-OsNAS2 grain and positively correlated with NA and DMA concentrations.
Related Concept Videos
What is Metabolism?
Bioavailability: Overview
Bioavailability: Overview
Bioavailability Study Design: Absolute Versus Relative Bioavailability
Bioavailability Enhancement: Determination and Conceptual Approaches in Overcoming Bioavailability Problems
Concentration Cells
Consider the following voltaic cell:

