Instituto de Hortofruticultura Subtropical y Mediterránea, Universidad de Málaga-Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Departamento de Biología Molecular y Bioquímica, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Málaga, Spain.
Biotechnol J. 2012 Sep;7(9):1110-21. doi: 10.1002/biot.201200041. Epub 2012 Aug 14.
The term "vitamin" is used to define a number of organic compounds that have to be obtained from different foods because the organism itself cannot synthesize them in the quantities needed to sustain life. Vitamin C is the common name for L-ascorbic acid. In humans, the principal role of this molecule is to scavenge reactive oxygen species, due to its antioxidant capacity, and to serve as cofactor for many enzymes. A deficiency of L-ascorbic acid is traditionally linked to human diseases such as scurvy. Plant foods are the principal source of L-ascorbic acid for humans. There is a high variability of L-ascorbic acid content in the various plant organs that are used for human consumption. This diversity is related to the specific functions played by L-ascorbic acid in the different plant tissues. The net content of L-ascorbic acid in plants is determined through a balance of the activities of different biosynthetic, recycling, and catabolic pathways. Here we review the importance of L-ascorbic acid for human health, the current knowledge on its metabolism and function in plants, and the efforts that have already been made by genetic modification to improve its content in plant organs used for human food. We provide a current and forward looking perspective of how plant science can contribute to improving the L-ascorbic acid content in crop species using gene transformation, quantitative trait loci and association mapping-based approaches.
术语“维生素”用于定义许多有机化合物，这些化合物必须从不同的食物中获得，因为生物体自身不能合成足够维持生命所需的数量。维生素 C 是 L-抗坏血酸的通用名。在人类中，这种分子的主要作用是由于其抗氧化能力而清除活性氧物质，并作为许多酶的辅助因子。传统上，L-抗坏血酸的缺乏与人类疾病如坏血病有关。植物性食物是人类 L-抗坏血酸的主要来源。用于人类食用的各种植物器官中 L-抗坏血酸的含量存在很大的可变性。这种多样性与 L-抗坏血酸在不同植物组织中发挥的特定功能有关。植物中 L-抗坏血酸的净含量是通过不同生物合成、回收和分解代谢途径的活性平衡来确定的。在这里，我们回顾了 L-抗坏血酸对人类健康的重要性，以及其在植物中的代谢和功能的现有知识，以及遗传修饰已经为提高用于人类食用的植物器官中的 L-抗坏血酸含量所做的努力。我们提供了一个当前和前瞻性的观点，即植物科学如何通过基因转化、数量性状位点和基于关联图谱的方法来提高作物物种中的 L-抗坏血酸含量。
