Phytic Acid and Mineral Biofortification Strategies: From Plant Science to Breeding and Biotechnological Approaches

Mineral deficiencies, particularly for iron and zinc, affect over two billion people worldwide,mainly in developing countries where diets are based on the consumption of staple crops. Mineralbiofortification includes different approaches aimed to increase mineral concentration and to improvemineral bioavailability in the edible parts of plants, particularly the seeds. A multidisciplinaryapproach, including agronomic, genetic, physiological, and molecular expertise, is necessary toobtain detailed knowledge of the complex homeostatic mechanisms that tightly regulate seed mineralconcentrations and the molecules and mechanisms that determine mineral bioavailability, necessaryto reach the biofortification objectives. To increase bioavailability, one strategy is to decrease seedcontent of phytic acid, a highly electronegative molecule present in the cell that chelates positivelycharged metal ions, many of which are important for human nutrition. All the contributions of thecurrent Special Issue aim at describing new results, reviewing the literature, and also commentingon some of the economic and sociological aspects concerning biofortification research. A number ofcontributions are related to the study of mineral transport, seed accumulation, and approaches toincrease seed micronutrient concentration. The remaining ones are mainly focused on the study oflow phytic acid mutants.