Challenges to Increasing Dietary Fiber in White Flour and Bread.

Increasing the intake of dietary fiber from staple foods is a key strategy to improve the health of consumers. White bread is an attractive vehicle to deliver increased fiber as it is widely consumed and available to all socio-economic groups. However, fiber only accounts for about 4% of the dry weight of white flour and bread compared to 10-15% in whole grain bread and flour.

Genetic Approaches to Increase Arabinoxylan and β-Glucan Content in Wheat.

Wheat is one of the three staple crops feeding the world. The demand for wheat is ever increasing as a relatively good source of protein, energy, nutrients, and dietary fiber (DF) when consumed as wholemeal. Arabinoxylan and β-glucan are the major hemicelluloses in the cell walls and dietary fiber in wheat grains.

A point mutation in the kinase domain of CRK10 leads to xylem vessel collapse and activation of defence responses in Arabidopsis.

Cysteine-rich receptor-like kinases (CRKs) are a large family of plasma membrane-bound receptors ubiquitous in higher plants. However, despite their prominence, their biological roles have remained largely elusive so far. In this study we report the characterization of an Arabidopsis mutant named crk10-A397T in which alanine 397 has been replaced by a threonine in the αC helix of the kinase domain of CRK10, known to be a crucial regulatory module in mammalian kinases.

RNAi suppression of xylan synthase genes in wheat starchy endosperm.

The xylan backbone of arabinoxylan (AX), the major cell wall polysaccharide in the wheat starchy endosperm, is synthesised by xylan synthase which is a complex of three subunits encoded by the GT43_1, GT43_2 and GT47_2 genes. RNAi knock-down of either GT43_1 or all three genes (triple lines) resulted in decreased AX measured by digestion with endoxylanase (to 33 and 34.9% of the controls) and by monosaccharide analysis (to 45.

Wheat with greatly reduced accumulation of free asparagine in the grain, produced by CRISPR/Cas9 editing of asparagine synthetase gene TaASN2.

Free asparagine is the precursor for acrylamide, which forms during the baking, toasting and high-temperature processing of foods made from wheat. In this study, CRISPR/Cas9 was used to knock out the asparagine synthetase gene, TaASN2, of wheat (Triticum aestivum) cv. Cadenza.