The dual benefit of a dominant mutation in Arabidopsis IRON DEFICIENCY TOLERANT1 for iron biofortification and heavy metal phytoremediation.

One of the goals of biofortification is to generate iron-enriched crops to combat growth and developmental defects especially iron (Fe) deficiency anemia. Fe-fortification of food is challenging because soluble Fe is unstable and insoluble Fe is non-bioavailable. Genetic engineering is an alternative approach for Fe biofortification but so far strategies to increase Fe content have only encompassed a few genes with limited success. In this study, we demonstrate that the Ethyl methanesulfonate (EMS) mutant, iron deficiency tolerant1 (idt1) can accumulate 4-7 times higher amounts of Fe than the wild type in roots, shoots and seeds, and exhibits the metal tolerance and iron accumulation (Metina) phenotype in Arabidopsis. Fe-regulated protein stability and nuclear localization of the upstream transcriptional regulator bHLH34 were uncovered. The C to T transition mutation resulting in substitution of alanine to valine at amino acid position 320 of bHLH34 (designated as IDT1_A320V ) in a conserved motif among mono- and dicots was found to be responsible for a dominant phenotype that possesses constitutive activation of the Fe regulatory pathway. Overexpression of IDT1_A320V in Arabidopsis and tobacco led to the Metina phenotype; a phenotype that has escalated specificity towards optimizing Fe homeostasis and may be useful in Fe-biofortification. Knowledge of the high tolerance and accumulation of heavy metals of this mutant can aid the development of tools for phytoremediation of contaminants.