Scientists breed wheat with far less gluten in one generation
Marín-Sanz M, Berlanga-Torres JA, Guzmán-López MH, Sánchez-León S, Vallés MP
Crispr
If this wheat reaches fields and mills, the bread, pasta, and pastries on your table could someday carry a fraction of the gluten that makes celiac disease so hard to live with.
Wheat makes a protein called gluten, and one part of it, called gliadin, is what makes people with celiac disease sick. Researchers used two different gene-editing techniques together, plus a fast breeding trick that lets them lock in the changes in one generation instead of many, to cut the troublesome gliadin by more than 70% in some wheat plants. The wheat still made grain of normal size and kept enough of the proteins needed for good bread, so it wasn't just gutted of gluten, it was carefully edited.
Key Findings
Some doubled haploid lines showed more than 70% reduction in immunogenic epitopes within alpha-gliadin proteins, outperforming both parent lines
Combining RNAi silencing with CRISPR editing nearly depleted gliadins in some lines, with compensatory increases in high-molecular-weight glutenin subunits important for bread-making quality
Kernel size and specific weight traits were largely preserved despite the major protein composition changes
chevron_right Technical Summary
Scientists combined two gene-editing tools with a wheat breeding shortcut to create wheat lines with over 70% less of the gluten protein fragments that trigger celiac disease, while keeping the wheat's baking quality and kernel size intact.
Abstract Preview
Original paper
Engineering ultra-low-gliadin wheat for celiac disease using an integrated RNAi, CRISPR, and doubled haploid strategy.
The growing prevalence of gluten-related disorders in humans has driven the development of wheat varieties with reduced immunogenic gluten. This study aimed to integrate RNA interference (RNAi) and...
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Wheat is a group of wild and domesticated grasses of the genus Triticum. As cereals, they are cultivated for their grains, which are staple foods around the world. Well-known wheat species and hybrids include the most widely grown common wheat, spelt, durum, emmer, einkorn, and Khorasan or Kamut....