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6695156 
Journal Article 
Review 
Zinc biofortification of cereals: problems and solutions 
Palmgren, MG; Clemens, S; Williams, LE; Krämer, U; Borg, S; Schjørring, JK; Sanders, D 
2008 
Trends in Plant Science
ISSN: 1360-1385 
ELSEVIER SCIENCE LONDON 
LONDON 
13 
464-473 
English 
The goal of biofortification is to develop plants that have an increased content of bioavailable nutrients in their edible parts. Cereals serve as the main staple food for a large proportion of the world population but have the shortcoming, from a nutrition perspective, of being low in zinc and other essential nutrients. Major bottlenecks in plant biofortification appear to be the root-shoot barrier and--in cereals--the process of grain filling. New findings demonstrate that the root-shoot distribution of zinc is controlled mainly by heavy metal transporting P1B-ATPases and the metal tolerance protein (MTP) family. A greater understanding of zinc transport is important to improve crop quality and also to help alleviate accumulation of any toxic metals.