Editorial: Dissecting antinutrient traits using omics approaches

Abstract

The human population predominantly depends on plants and plant-based products for their food and nutrition. While plants are a major source of nutrients and health-promoting compounds, they also possess antinutrient factors that affect health and well-being. Global research focuses on improving important traits in plants, particularly food and nutritional security. However, few research groups work towards identifying and characterizing the antinutrient factors in food grains. These factors include cyanogen and cyanogenic glucosides, enzyme inhibitors, erucic acid, exorphins, goitrogens, lectins/hemoglutinins, lipoxygenases, nitrates, oxalate and oxalic acid, phytates, raffinose oligosaccharides, saponins, tannins, and other contextual antinutrients. Though these molecules are vital for the growth and development of plants, they pose health concerns to humans when consumed. In this context, this Research Topic was edited to collate the knowledge available on antinutrient research. The Research Topic received two research and three review articles. A comprehensive review of different antinutrients, their biosynthetic pathways, and physical and chemical methods to remove/reduce the antinutrients was provided by Duraiswamy et al.. The article provides an excellent timeline of research on this aspect and a compendium of genetic and genomic factors that underlie antinutrient biosynthesis. Also, the article provides a roadmap for using advanced genetic and genomic tools to reduce antinutrient content in food grains.