GMOs which could save lots of lives…

Iron deficiency anemia is one of the most serious troubles related to nutrition in developing countries. Knowing that iron from fruit is easily available for the body and that banana is often a staple food in these countries, iron fortification of bananas seems to be a good solution to fight against this problem.

Thanks to transgenesis methods, soybean DNA synthetizing ferritin (protein of iron storage) was integrated into the genes of banana cells. Thus, researchers got a transgenic plant containing soybean ferritin and about 6 times more iron (and 4,5 times more zinc) than a non-transgenic banana.

Iron-fortified bananas could therefore be developed to fight against the problem of iron deficiency anemia in developing countries.