New seed varieties Don’t affect breadmaking quality, yield and weight.
New seed varieties Don’t affect breadmaking quality, yield and weight.
Wheat is a major source of calories, carbohydrates and protein worldwide, and its distinctive gluten proteins are what gives bread and pasta dough texture and elasticity. But it also can cause autoimmune reactions such as celiac disease, which is growing in prevalence worldwide.
Researchers at the University of California, Davis, have deleted a cluster of genes in wheat that generates gluten proteins that can trigger immune reactions without harming the breadmaking quality of this globally nutritious crop.
The findings, published this month in the journal Theoretical and Applied Genetics, won’t produce a celiac-safe form of wheat but represent a critical step forward in celiac disease research, said Maria Rottersman, a lead author on the paper and a doctoral student in plant biology working in the lab of wheat geneticist Jorge Dubcovsky.
Read more at University of California - Davis
Image: Maria Rottersman of UC Davis holds a loaf of baked bread made using seed varieties developed without alpha-gliadin proteins, a component of gluten. (Credit: Alejandra Andrade / California Wheat Commission)
