Genetic Engineering for Enhanced Nutritional Quality in Potato - a review

Abstract

Avowed from the reports of FAO, WFP and IFAD, undernourishment alongside vitamin and mineral deficiencies in human diet is the main cause of concern and responsible for the deaths of more than 2.5 million children each year. Moreover, the world population burgeoning at high pace and is expected to reach nine billion by 2050, problems of malnutrition are expected to worsen with the time. Potato is the most important non-grain food crop in the world, ranking 3rd in terms of total production after rice and wheat. Although potato is rich in protein, vitamin C, vitamin B6 and niacin etc., it lacks in providing many other important nutrients. Enhancement of nutrient content of potato through conventional breeding has been found to be a challenging endeavor due to tetraploidy, heterozygosity and lack of variability for the trait of interest. In the recent past, the application of advanced genetic engineering tools to improve the nutritional status of potato has yielded limited success. The review discusses the progress made, challenges faced and lessons learnt from the past studies. It also sets the future agenda for making head way in developing potato as ‘complete food’ to address the world problem of malnutrition and hunger with the apt use of modern biotechnological tools.