Wheat is an important source of calories, carbohydrates and proteins worldwide, and its distinctive gluten proteins are those that gives the texture and elasticity of the mass of bread and pasta. But you can also cause autoimmune reactions such as celiac disease, which is growing in prevalence throughout the world.
Researchers at the University of California, Davis, have eliminated a group of gene genes that generates gluten proteins that can trigger immune reactions without damaging the quality of bread manufacturing of this global nutritional crop.
The findings, published this month in the magazine Theoretical and applied geneticsIt will not produce a form of wheat with celiac security, but represents a critical step in the investigation of celiac disease, said Maria Rottersman, main author of the document and a doctoral student in plant biology who works in the laboratory of the geneticist of wheat Jorge Dubcovsky.
“The gluten proteins we eliminate are those that trigger the strongest response in people with celiac disease, and their elimination can reduce the risk of triggering the disease in people without celiac disease,” Dubcovsky said.
Gluten consists of two kinds of protein, glutenins and gliadins, and eliminating them all would reduce bread quality. The research team used gamma radiation to attack and eliminate alpha-glyradins, which can cause serious reactions in people with celiac disease.
“Wheat is a basic harvest, and many people depend on it for calories,” Rottersman said. “It becomes a barrier when people cannot eat wheat safely. Alpha-glyradins are definitely candidates for extraction in terms of trying to create less allergenic wheat.”
In the market
The team produced seeds of these edited varieties and tested the quality of wheat and mass in the Quality Laboratory of the California Wheat Commission. Once the value of these reproduction lines was established, they were deposited in the germplasm, or grin resource information network, operated by the Agricultural Research Service in the US Department of Agriculture. UU. To make them widely available.
“The exciting thing we found is that the quality of the flour produced by this wheat is actually, in some cases, improved,” Rottersman said. “Producers can not only cultivate it, but they can expect to have a higher quality product, which I think is a great incentive for people to adopt this variety widely. They can be planted in the same way that normal wheat is planted.”
The artisanal bakers, the mills and the farm operations to the food have expressed interest in the new varieties. The seeds are planted as any other crop and do not require special management. The varieties are conventionally raised and adequate for California, Rottersman said.
“Previously it was supposed that the elimination of gliadins would have a negative effect on the quality of bread manufacturing,” Dubcovsky said. “Our study shows that this is not always the case and that we can reduce the allergenicity of wheat and improve quality at the same time.”
German Burguener, Joshua Hegarty, Junli Zhang, Wenjun Zhang and Xiaoqin Zhang in the Department of Plants Sciences contributed to the research, as well as the scientists of the central installation of the UC Davis proteomics, the Howard Hoghes Medical Institute, the California Wheat Commission and the Agricultural Research Service of the USDA.
The financing for research came from the Celiac Nursing Foundation, the National Institute of Food and Agriculture of the USDA, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the Food and Agriculture Research Foundation.