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Cerdanyola del Vallès (Barcelona), 10th November, 2021. Nithyapriya Manivannan, a PhD student from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) and the ALBA Synchrotron, defended yesterday her PhD thesis entitled "Study of selenium biofortified functional food: interactions and competing mechanisms among different elements using synchrotron analytical techniques". The defense was hold in the Maxwell Auditorium of the ALBA Synchrotron in a semi-presential mode. The thesis has been supervised by Dr. Laura Simonelli from ALBA and Dr. Roberto Boada and Prof. Manuel Valiente from the UAB, with strong support of Prof. Mercè Llugany Ollé from the UAB plant physiology department. Nithya's thesis address the selenium biofortification of wheat as it is one of the three major cereals crops consumed and produced around the world, along with rice and maize. Indeed, selenium plays a vital role in regulating the metabolic activities in humans as it is needed for the thyroid gland functioning, effective immune response, fertility and detoxification of free radicals [1]. For the human metabolism, seleno-amino acids are acquired from external dietary sources and one of their major sources is crops, where the selenium content depends on the its presence in the cultivation soil but it is occasionally too low to satisfy the human needs. Selenium enriched functional-foods [2] have emerged as an appealing biofortification solution which is already used for common crops, for example, in southern Finland [3]. To optimize the selenium biofortified food efficiency and to reduce the risks of undesired toxicity, it is essential to understand the selenium transformation through its metabolization pathways. In addition, considering that the human activity increases the global soil pollution, it is also critical to assess the effect of the contaminants into the biofortification process. Indeed, some studies have proven that the selenium uptake by the plant is influenced by the presence of pollutants and, in some cases, the strong interaction between selenium and certain pollutants prevents these contaminants present in the soil from reaching the grains. |
Nithya's experiments were performed at the CLÆSS beamline of ALBA, which allowed to perform X-ray absorption spectra (XAS) of wheat roots, shoots and grains to be recorded without affecting their chemical nature.
The reported results help to understand the selenium plant uptake mechanisms and its interaction with pollutants, and permit to improve the selenium biofortification practices on wheat. The thesis reports valuable information for achieving the formation of the desired selenium species in wheat grains, reducing the toxicity to the plants, and to finally help society to access an adequate selenium intake to benefit human dietary needs.
This PhD thesis is part of the 1st call of the Doctoral Training Programme in Functional Advanced Materials (DOC-FAM) DOC-FAM, a H2020-MSCA-COFUND project coordinated by ICMAB-CSIC in collaboration with four partner research institutions from the area: IMB-CNM, IREC, ALBA Synchrotron and ICN2.
References
[1] Papp, L. V., Lu, J., Holmgren, A., & Khanna, K. K. (2007). From selenium to selenoproteins: synthesis, identity, and their role in human health.Antioxidants & redox signaling, 9(7), 775-806.
[2] Mathers, A. W., Young, S. D., McGrath, S. P., Zhao, F. J., Crout, N. M., & Bailey, E. H. (2017). Determining the fate of selenium in wheat biofortification: an isotopically labelled field trial study.Plant and Soil, 420(1-2), 61-77.
[3] Aro. A., et al., (1995). Effects of supplementation of fertilizers on human selenium status in Finland. Analyst, 120 (3), 841-843.
With the collaboration of Fundación Española para la Ciencia y la Tecnología. The ALBA Synchrotron is part of the of the Unidades de Cultura Científica y de la Innovación (UCC+i) of the FECYT and has received support through the FCT-20-15798 project.
