Genetic Improvement of Iron Content and Stress Adaptation in Plants Using Ferritin Gene

Abstract

Iron deficiency resulting from an inadequate diet is a serious nutritional problem. Anaemia derived from iron deficiency causes a host of illnesses, including abortion, brain damage in infants, increased susceptibility to infection, and chronic exhaustion (Baynes and Bothwell, 1990). An estimated 30% of the world's population suffer from some level of iron deficiency, with the highest prevalence found in the developing countries. On the contrary, iron intake by people in developed countries is adequate, and the prevalence of iron deficiency is decreasing. However, anaemia derived from iron deficiency in Japanese females is a concern, and its incidence has remained constant in recent years. There are two approaches to overcome the iron deficiency: one is supplementation of iron to dairy diets, and another is fortification using biological methods. Although supplements added to food or taken in tablet form are effective in preventing and controlling iron deficiency t such treatments are difficult to implement in developing countries because of the associated high costs and lack of primary health care programmes. The other approach is the fortification using biological methods, and there are two ways. The first way is to increase the iron concentration of the hydroponic culture media or soil. This method is costly and cannot accumulate iron to a desirable part of the plant. The second way is to improve the iron content in crops genetically. This way seems better than the first one. This is