{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,21]],"date-time":"2026-09-21T15:12:02Z","timestamp":1790003522193,"version":"4.0.1"},"reference-count":54,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,21]],"date-time":"2026-09-21T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1789948800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100003593","name":"Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cient\u00edfico e Tecnol\u00f3gico","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["442304\/2023-4, 309145\/2023-6, 444596\/2024-0, 405229\/2025-9"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["442304\/2023-4, 309145\/2023-6, 444596\/2024-0, 405229\/2025-9"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100003593","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100004263","name":"Funda\u00e7\u00e3o de Amparo \u00e0 Pesquisa do Estado do Rio Grande do Sul","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["21\/2551-0001960-3, 23\/2551-0001862-4, 25\/2551-0002803-5"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["21\/2551-0001960-3, 23\/2551-0001862-4, 25\/2551-0002803-5"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100004263","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100002322","name":"Coordena\u00e7\u00e3o de Aperfei\u00e7oamento de Pessoal de N\u00edvel Superior","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["Finance Code 001"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["Finance Code 001"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100002322","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Plant Sci."],"abstract":"<jats:p>Micronutrient deficiencies, particularly of iron (Fe) and zinc (Zn), are major global health concerns for humans, especially in populations that rely heavily on cereal-based diets. Rice grains, one of the world\u2019s most consumed staple crops, have low concentrations of bioavailable Fe and Zn, especially in the endosperm which constitutes white rice, the most consumed rice. Biofortification is proposed as an excellent cost-effective strategy to solve the problem. Recent advances in CRISPR-based genome editing now allow precise manipulation of genes controlling mineral uptake, transport, sequestration, and grain partitioning, offering new opportunities to generate non-transgenic, biofortified crop. Here we discuss current knowledge on the genetic control of Fe and Zn accumulation in rice grains and evaluate how this information can be leveraged to design effective genome editing strategies for nutritional improvement. We focus on candidate genes involved in vacuolar sequestration, metal chelator biosynthesis and transport, plasma membrane transport, regulatory pathways controlling metal homeostasis, and phytic acid metabolism affecting mineral bioavailability. Evidence from loss-of-function mutants, promoter engineering, natural allelic variation, and precise sequence editing demonstrates that targeted manipulation of these pathways can substantially enhance Fe and Zn accumulation, particularly in polished rice, without major yield penalty. We further propose potential multiplex gene editing approaches to combine alleles and optimize metal allocation to the endosperm. These advances provide a framework for the rational development of next-generation, non-transgenic biofortified rice cultivars.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpls.2026.1878163","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,21]],"date-time":"2026-09-21T14:56:18Z","timestamp":1790002578000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Hit me with your best shot: combining gene editing events to deliver iron and zinc biofortified rice"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"17","author":[{"given":"Paloma Koprovski","family":"Menguer","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Instituto de Tecnologia Qu\u00edmica e Biol\u00f3gica Ant\u00f3nio Xavier, Universidade Nova de Lisboa","place":["Oeiras, Portugal"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Lucas Adamy","family":"Lenhardt","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Laborat\u00f3rio de Fisiologia Vegetal, Departamento de Bot\u00e2nica, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul","place":["Porto Alegre, Brazil"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Marcos","family":"B\u00f6nes","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Laborat\u00f3rio de Fisiologia Vegetal, Departamento de Bot\u00e2nica, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul","place":["Porto Alegre, Brazil"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Felipe Klein","family":"Ricachenevsky","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Laborat\u00f3rio de Fisiologia Vegetal, Departamento de Bot\u00e2nica, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul","place":["Porto Alegre, Brazil"]},{"name":"Programa de P\u00f3s-Gradua\u00e7\u00e3o em Bot\u00e2nica, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul","place":["Porto Alegre, Brazil"]},{"name":"Programa de P\u00f3s-Gradua\u00e7\u00e3o em Biologia Celular e Molecular, Centro de Biotecnologia, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul","place":["Porto Alegre, Brazil"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,21]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"2264","DOI":"10.1093\/jxb\/eraf505","article-title":"Double knockout of rice vacuolar iron transporters OsVIT1 and OsVIT2 reveals a trade-off between iron biofortification and iron excess tolerance","volume":"77","author":"Benato","year":"2026","journal-title":"J. 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