August 28, 2023 —Researchers identify enzymes that form starch granules in seeds of wheat, barley, rye and other cereal crops with little or no B-type starch granules used it for the production of wheat. This protein ensures smoothness and has potential applications in the baking, brewing and milling industries, overcoming many challenges. food ingredients first Hear from the scientists behind the discovery.
Researchers at the John Innes Center in the UK have discovered that a ubiquitous enzyme (PHS1) is important for the formation of B-type granules in wheat.
“Decades of research on this enzyme have failed to find a clear role for PHS1 in plants and have shown that A-type and B-type granules in wheat are formed through different biochemical mechanisms. This is a scientific breakthrough.” This knowledge can now be used to create variations of starch for different food and industrial applications,” said the lead author of the study. One Dr. Nitin Uttam Kambul says:
“By combining traditional breeding methods with cutting-edge molecular techniques, we are studying the biological mechanisms that govern the changes in granule shape,” he added.
Senior author of the study, Dr. David Sun, elaborated: Many studies have suggested that the size of starch granules affects these properties, and the near absence of B-type grains is a very significant change in the overall size distribution of wheat starch. “
This approach is expected to allow researchers to ‘design’ modifications of starch to suit their specific requirements, as well as provide a ‘better understanding of starch synthesis’.
Small particles, big effect
Researchers point to the importance of starch in the food and beverage industry.
“Starch serves as a vital source of calories in our diet and is essential in food applications such as brewing and baking. It also has diverse industrial uses (paper, adhesives, textiles, construction materials).” Dr. Kamble says.
Research published in journals plant cellstated that there are two different types of granules in wheat starch: large A-type granules and small B-type granules.
Dr Sun says: You can not only reduce the content of B-type granules, but also increase it, or change the size and shape of starch granules. “
Studies have found that the ratio of A-type to B-type granules can affect the quality of wheat-based foods such as bread and pasta.
In addition, these two granules are a problem for the starch manufacturing industry as many small B-type granules are lost and wasted during the milling process.
The large amount of B-type starch granules in barley can also be digested during the brewing process, leaving it unfiltered and causing ‘cloudy or hazy beer’.
Over the years, the food industry has sacrificed recovery methods, such as using multiple filtrations to capture granules lost during processing, to solve the problem of mixing large A-type granules with small B-type granules. have paid for, says the report.
From idea to implementation
Lead author guides the way to discovery.
“To develop a technique to reduce B-type granules in wheat, we first had to develop a fundamental knowledge of how they are synthesized,” said Dr. Kamble.
“We first started working on PHS1 because we discovered that PHS1 interacts with BGC1, another key protein involved in the formation of B-type starch granules,” he explains. .
By utilizing techniques such as in silico TILLING (targeting local lesions induced within the genome), the research team obtained cultivars in which PHS1 is not functional, and PHS1 is required for the production of B-type granules. I discovered something.
“This technique uses chemical mutagenesis similar to conventional breeding, but combines it with advanced sequencing technology to rapidly identify lines with mutations in genes of interest, such as PHS1.”
The ‘breeding platform’ used in this study uses molecular techniques to discover genes and proteins involved in starch synthesis.
Interestingly, scientists note that bread wheat was not the original focus of the study. “Exploration was initially limited to the tetraploid pasta wheat cultivar Chronos because of its simpler genetics than bread wheat,” said Dr. Kamble.
“We are now using similar tilling-based methods and genome editing to transform traits into bread wheat varieties and barley,” he added.
“The road from establishment to producing a variety with less B-type granules of wheat took about three to five years,” he emphasizes.
The bakery industry is currently attracting the attention of scientists around the world. food ingredients first We recently reported a study from Germany that identified key flavor compounds in sourdough bread.
Navigate uniformity and nutrition
This study demonstrates the need for a uniform texture in wheat to facilitate processing.
Starches used in industry are often modified using physical and chemical methods to achieve the specific properties required for each end use, research says.
Dr. Sun said: “The industry generally doesn’t like heterogeneity. It’s always been a challenge to have wheat with such a wide variety of starch granules.”
“Therefore, discovering the enzymes responsible for reducing the granule population and being able to use our breeding platform to reduce the number of B-type granules is of great interest to many industry users. will be,” he continues.
Studies show that removing the requirement for these processing steps reduces costs and improves product performance.
“Similar to the impact on texture, there can be ‘amazing changes in nutritional value,’” he says.
“This should be tested after the flour has been processed into final products such as bread and pasta. Our materials are perfect for investigating that.”
Sea & Flour’s recent seaweed bread is an example of how food scientists around the world are enriching bread.
looking to the future
A team of researchers hopes to develop markets for starches tailored to specific requirements.
“Now that we have the means to reduce B-type granules, we can work with the food industry to test the applicability of this starch to improve food quality and explore ways to streamline processing and manufacturing.” said Dr. Kamble. state.
“We are now inviting companies to work with us to explore the potential benefits of these starches in flour milling, pasta, bread making, and more.”
A future research question is how granule size affects starch digestibility, cooking quality, nutritional value, and the impact of dietary starch on human health, the report said. .
By Insha Noreen
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