Plant genetic factors for iron homeostasis affect iron bioavailability in Caco-2 cells

The Caco-2 cell model is standardised for testing Fe uptake capacities of human epithelial cells from various food sources. Here, we used this system to study the impact of plant genetic Fe homeostasis factors on Fe bioavailability. The tomato fer mutant produces yellow Fe-deficient leaves due to the inability of the plant mutant to acquire Fe from soil. The chloronerva mutant lacks the metal chelator nicotianamine that is necessary for proper distribution and internal mobilization of Fe within the plant. We found that Fe uptake by Caco-2 cells was significantly compromised when mutant fer and chloronerva tomato leaf extracts had been supplied as Fe source. However after supplementation with Fe, no difference in Fe uptake were observed between fer and wild type tomato samples, whereas increased Fe uptake was obtained for chloronerva samples.Hence, our work suggests that genetic factors for plant Fe contents are important determinants for food quality.