How might climate change impact fructan composition of food crops?

During the last two decades, the world has experienced an abrupt change in climate. In particular, human activities such as combustion of fossil fuel, industrial processes, and deforestation have led to an increase in atmospheric CO2 concentration by 30% since the mid of the eighteenth century (1). As these emissions continue to increase, projections indicate that the atmospheric CO2 concentration will almost double by the end of this century.

The Role of Fructans in Plant Survival

Fructans, linear or branched polymers of fructose often with a terminal glucose, are important storage carbohydrates found in approximately 15% of the flowering plant species.

Fructans: Nature's Stress Protectants

In addition to acting as a reserve carbohydrate in these plants, they play a key role as stress protectants from climate extremes such as frost and drought.

Fructans in Our Diet: A Key Nutrient

Fructans form an important part of our diet as they occur in several common vegetables such as onion, garlic, and leek, fruits such as bananas, dates, and grapefruit, and grains such as wheat and rye that are consumed in large amounts worldwide (6).

Fructans and Gut Health: What You Need to Know

As we lack the enzymes hydrolyzing fructans to monosaccharides, they reach the colon, almost unchanged, and are fermented by our resident gut bacteria to yield gut-health-promoting molecules and foster further growth of beneficial microbes (17).

IBS and Fructans: Exploring the Connection

A fructan-rich diet is now widely recognized for providing fermentable food fibers and therefore exerting several health-promoting and immunomodulatory effects (7). However, fructans are also emerging as an important trigger for symptoms associated with functional gastrointestinal disorders such as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Hence, consuming a reduced fructan-containing diet can lead to symptom improvement in IBS patients (18).

Understanding how the fructan composition of crops is changing under the influence of climate extremes and elevated CO2 levels can not only help define the nutritive value of grains, fruits, and vegetables that are rich in these molecules but also outline safe portion sizes for individuals attempting to restrict fructan consumption. This understanding will also be a key tool in developing strategies to enhance crop tolerance to stressful conditions, particularly under the changing climate prediction.

Climate Change's Effect on Crop Nutrition

Although several studies have described the effect of elevated CO2 and temperature on important nutritional parameters such as protein content, fiber content, carbon/nitrogen ratio, and tannin concentration of plants (8-10), the available data on changes in fructan content affected by climate change is limited.

Unraveling the Complexity of Fructan Molecules

An important hurdle in clearly defining the effect of climate change on fructan composition is the species-dependent nature of this interaction. Plant responses to climate change are complicated by significant ‘species X climate’ interactions and show species-group-specific responses.

Despite these hurdles, some studies suggest that fructans and other related storage carbohydrates are expected to increase under elevated CO2 conditions (11, 12).

Fructans as Drought and Flood Stress Responders

Moreover, fructan-accumulating plants and non-fructan-accumulating plants respond differently to extreme climate conditions and elevated CO2 (14). Compared to the non-fructan-accumulating plants, fructan accumulators are able to preserve their tissue quality (protein, macro and micronutrients) better under stress and elevated CO2. This leads us to the speculation whether the robust fructan accumulators - which can better withstand the environmental stresses that would be a consequence of climate change - might dominate our diets in the future.

Adapting to a Changing Climate: Future Perspectives

In conclusion, a deeper understanding of the molecular mechanisms of fructan-based stress tolerance might help us design strategies to generate sturdier crop varieties to maintain the current diversity of popular food crops as our planet’s climate changes. Answering such questions will prove to be central to the development of future crop and dietary interventions to ensure that we continue to have access to abundant, safe, and nutritious food in the wake of climate extremes.

References:

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