Zinc biofortification of rice by engineering metal transporter genes

Approximately 30% of the world's population is Zn deficient, and the development of Zn-enriched crops could help to alleviate this problem. Over the past few years, we have seen many advances in understanding Zn uptake from the soil, root to shoot transport, vacuole accumulation, grain sink strength, and remobilization. However, we still need basic science to identify the most effective molecular targets to generate Zn-biofortified crops. In this chapter, we focus on the Zn transporter genes participating in rice Zn homeostasis and the transgenic strategies used to generate Zn-biofortified rice plants by engineering expression of metal transporters. Also, we discuss the prospects and future challenges associated with such approaches.