A Novel Nutritional Intervention to Combat Osteoporosis

描述（由申请人提供）：低水平的营养物质，如钙，导致骨质疏松症和其他严重的健康问题，全世界数百万人。对许多消费者来说，目前增加膳食营养的方法不方便、昂贵或令人不快。这个STTR第一阶段项目建议开发一种新方法，通过将基因增强植物与低成本的叶面和水培改良相结合，提高蔬菜中一种或多种营养素的水平，这些蔬菜已经成为美国普通饮食的重要组成部分。例如，最近对钙转运蛋白CAX基因的研究表明，转基因胡萝卜的钙吸收量增加了一倍。另外，使用叶面改剂使非转基因生菜的钙含量增加了四倍，钾含量也增加了，而不损害植物的外观或生长。结合这些研究，这个第一阶段的项目将寻求通过证明叶面改良可以进一步增加现有转基因胡萝卜品系的钙和钾吸收来实现概念验证。该项目还将开始对一种受欢迎的新鲜生菜品种进行基因改造，以表达CAXgene，用于第二阶段的测试。为了更好地了解植物中钙和钾的储存机制（例如，外胞体或液泡），将使用扫描电子显微镜来比较组织特异性和细胞内储存位置。该项目的成功完成将产生种植两种蔬菜的技术，胡萝卜和生菜，大大提高钙和钾的价值。从更广泛的意义上说，该项目可能为经济高效、以种植者为基础的增加主食中各种营养物质的方法奠定基础。值得注意的是，这种方法提供了令人兴奋的可能性，可以同时提高单一新鲜蔬菜中多种营养素的水平。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Low levels of nutrients such as calcium contribute to osteoporosis and other significant health problems for millions of people worldwide. For many consumers, current methods of increasing dietary nutrients are inconvenient, costly, or unpalatable. This STTR Phase I project proposes to develop a novel method of increasing levels of one or more nutrients in vegetables that already comprise a significant part of the average U.S. diet, by combining the use of genetically enhanced plants with low-cost foliar and hydroponic amendments. For example, recent research with calcium transporter CAX genes has demonstrated a doubling of calcium uptake in transgenic carrots. Separately, use of foliar amendments has quadrupled the calcium content of nontransgenic lettuce, and also increased potassium content, without harming plant appearance or growth. Combining these lines of research, this Phase I project will seek to achieve proof-of concept by demonstrating that foliar amendments can further increase calcium and potassium uptake in existing strains of transgenic carrot. The project also will begin genetic transformation of a popular variety of fresh lettuce to express the CAXgene for testing in Phase II. To better understand mechanisms of calcium and potassium storage (e.g., apoplastic or vacuolar) in the plants, a scanning electron microscope will be used to compare tissue-specific and intracellular storage locations. Successful completion of the project should result in techniques for growing two vegetables, carrot and lettuce, with greatly enhanced calcium and potassium values. More broadly, the project may provide the foundation for cost-effective, grower based methods of increasing a wide range of nutrients in food staples. Significantly, the approach offers the exciting possibility of simultaneously enhancing levels of multiple nutrients in single fresh vegetables.