Functional nutritional rice: current progresses and future prospects

Area of Science:

• Agricultural Science
• Nutritional Science
• Plant Breeding

Background:

• Rice is a global staple food for over half the world's population.
• Dietary needs are shifting from caloric intake to nutritional quality and health benefits.
• Developing functional and mineral-biofortified rice is a key food development strategy.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review progress in breeding functional nutritional rice and mineral-biofortified rice.
• To explore the concept, structure, components, and categorization of functional rice.
• To identify genes and regulatory mechanisms involved in nutritional enhancement and mineral biofortification.

Main Methods:

• Review of conventional breeding, marker-assisted breeding, mutagenesis, genetic engineering, and gene editing technologies.
• Analysis of identified genes for nutritional function and mineral bioenhancement.
• Examination of rice breeding history and technical advancements.

Main Results:

• Functional nutritional rice breeding involves understanding its basic structure and nutritional components.
• Key genes and regulatory mechanisms for nutritional enhancement and mineral biofortification have been identified.
• Various breeding strategies, including advanced techniques like gene editing, are being employed.

Conclusions:

• Significant progress has been made in breeding functional and mineral-biofortified rice varieties.
• Future research should address current challenges and explore new developmental directions for nutritional rice.
• Continued innovation in breeding technologies is essential for meeting global nutritional demands.