A Michigan State University researcher is among a team of scientists that has uncovered the mechanism by which the amount of beta-carotene, or provitamin A, is increased in corn, a finding that can help combat vitamin A deficiency and improve human health in the developing world.

“Understanding how naturally occurring mutations in genes that synthesize micronutrients function at the most basic, genetic level allows us to apply the knowledge and methods to develop corn varieties that will positively influence human health around the world,” said Dean DellaPenna, professor of microbiology and molecular genetics and member of the research team.

Twenty other scientists from across the United States, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and institutions in Mexico and China took part in the project funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development, HarvestPlus, the National Science Foundation, the TRIAD Foundation, China National Science Foundation, China Scholarship Fund and the Jonathan Baldwin Turner Fellowship at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.