MU RESEARCHER HOPES TO HELP SOLVE WORLD HEALTH PROBLEM

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- The World Health Organization estimates that more than one-third of the world's population suffers from iron deficiency, making it the most prevalent nutritional problem in the world today. However, a researcher at the University of Missouri-Columbia is taking steps to help change those statistics for the betterment of society.

Elizabeth Rogers, assistant professor of nutritional sciences, is trying to gain a better understanding of how plants acquire iron from the soil, and identify and characterize the genes involved in iron sensing, regulation and transport in plants. Understanding iron uptake in plants is extremely important because one-third of the world's soils are iron deficient.

"For most people, plant material is the major source of iron, so assisting plants to have higher stores of bio-available iron will help both plant productivity and human nutrition," Rogers said.

Rogers is using the model plant Arabidopsis thalilana to better understand how plants acquire iron from the soil. First, the plant must determine if it has enough iron for growth or if it needs to obtain more from the soil. Rogers is taking a closer look at the process plants use to sense iron levels, since it is not yet understood. If the plant does need additional iron, a group of biochemical responses are turned on in the plant roots that help acquire iron from the soil. While some of these processes are well understood, Rogers hopes to find additional mechanisms that are involved, but not yet known.

Iron is termed a "micronutrient" because the mineral is essential for life in very small amounts. Iron is a critical component of hemoglobin, the protein that carries oxygen in red blood cells. Hemoglobin delivers oxygen to cells throughout the human body where it is used to produce energy. When humans don't get enough iron, their red blood cells don't carry as much oxygen, which results in tiredness and weakness. Iron deficiency also is associated with decreased immune function, shortened attention span and reduced ability to learn. Iron needs are greatest during periods of rapid growth such as childhood, adolescence, pregnancy and child-bearing years for women.

Rogers received her doctorate in genetics from Harvard University.

From Healthy.net