29 Sep 2024 Putting some real nutrition into lettuce

“Golden Lettuce” is genetically engineered to boost its nutrients…

As lettuce is 96% water, it’s considered to have no nutritional value – but here comes “Golden Lettuce” engineered by scientists in Spain to contain 30 times more nutrients than the regular green stuff.

A team from the Research Institute for Plant Molecular and Cellular Biology (IBMCP) has specifically increased the levels of beta-carotene, which the body uses to make vitamin A. This is important for healthy vision, immune function, and cell growth, and is thought to be protective against Alzheimer’s, heart disease and some kinds of cancer.

Beta-carotene is usually found in high amounts in yellow-orange vegetables like carrots, pumpkin, and sweet potato, and replicated in this new lettuce. Higher amounts of beta-carotene creates leaves in a striking yellow, hence the nickname Golden Lettuce.

The levels of beta-carotene in the Golden Lettuce leaves were up to 30 times higher than those of regular lettuce. Not only that, but these antioxidants were more bio-accessible too.

Increasing those levels wasn’t completely straightforward, however. Beta-carotene is normally produced in a plant’s chloroplasts, the cellular structures that perform photosynthesis – but if you jam too much in there, it reduces the plant’s ability to gain energy from sunlight. So, the team found a way to move the antioxidant into different parts of the plant cells.

“Our work has successfully produced and accumulated beta-carotene in cellular compartments where it is not normally found by combining biotechnological techniques and treatments with high light intensity,” said Manual Rodríguez Concepción, lead author of the study.

This Golden Lettuce could soon join a genetically-enhanced salad with more nutritious radishes and peas, and antioxidant-rich purple tomatoes and potatoes.

The research was published in the Plant Journal.

Source: IBMCP