Gene editing makes buckwheat seeds taste less bitter
Pinski A, Zaranek M, Lusinska J, Kopec P, Plazek A
Crispr
A nutritious, drought-tolerant grain that's been held back by its bitter taste could soon show up in more kitchens and gardens once breeders can grow a milder version.
Tartary buckwheat is a tough, climate-resilient grain packed with good-for-you compounds, but most people avoid it because it tastes bitter. Researchers found that a single gene, FtRDE2, is responsible for converting a mild compound called rutin into the bitter-tasting quercetin. By using CRISPR to switch off that gene, they bred buckwheat plants whose seeds stayed mild-tasting, and a taste panel confirmed people found them noticeably less bitter than regular buckwheat.
Key Findings
CRISPR/Cas9 was used to knock out the FtRDE2 gene, which encodes a rutin-degrading enzyme in Tartary buckwheat.
Two independent ftrde2 mutant lines showed no detectable rutinosidase activity, keeping rutin levels stable instead of converting it to bitter quercetin.
Sensory taste panels rated wild-type flour as consistently more bitter than flour from either ftrde2 mutant line.
chevron_right Technical Summary
Scientists used gene editing to disable a single gene in Tartary buckwheat that breaks down a compound called rutin into bitter-tasting quercetin. The edited plants stayed non-bitter, and tasters confirmed the flour was noticeably less bitter than regular buckwheat.
Abstract Preview
Original paper
Genome editing of the rutin-degrading enzyme gene FtRDE2 reduces seed bitterness in Tartary buckwheat.
Tartary buckwheat (F. tataricum) is a climate-resilient pseudocereal, yet its global adoption is constrained by its bitter seeds. Here, we employed the CRISPR/Cas9 system to disrupt the rutin-degra...
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Fagopyrum tataricum, also known as Tartary buckwheat, green buckwheat, ku qiao, Tatar buckwheat, or bitter buckwheat, is a domesticated food plant in the genus Fagopyrum in the family Polygonaceae. With another species in the same genus, common buckwheat, it is often counted as a cereal, but the ...