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Genetic improvement of wheat to reduce the potential for acrylamide formation during processing

Reference	BBS/E/J/000CA466
Principal Investigator / Supervisor	Professor Simon Griffiths
Co-Investigators / Co-Supervisors
Institution	John Innes Centre
Department	John Innes Centre Department
Funding type	Research
Value (£)	78,743
Status	Completed
Type	Institute Project
Start date	01/03/2012
End date	29/02/2016
Duration	47 months

Abstract

The formation of the chemical contaminant, acrylamide, during high-temperature cooking and processing of wheat, rye, potato and other mainly plant-derived raw materials was reported in 2002, and the presence of acrylamide in foods is now recognized as a difficult problem for the agricultural and food industries. Acrylamide causes cancer in laboratory animals and is therefore considered to be probably cancer-causing in humans. It also affects the nervous system and reproduction. Cereals, of which wheat is the most important, generate half of the acrylamide in the European diet, with biscuits, snacks and breakfast cereals being of particular concern. This application is being funded through the BBSRC’s stand-alone LINK scheme. The project will use state-of-the-art techniques for analysing amino acid concentrations in wheat flour, exploit the genetic resources in wheat that have been developed at Rothamsted and the John Innes Centre, including mapping populations, wheat genetic modification (as a research tool) and high-throughput screening of mutant populations, and utilise the latest DNA sequencing techniques to study differences in gene expression between high and low asparagine genotypes. The impact of reductions in acrylamide-forming potential of grain on performance in industrial processes will be assessed by food industry partners.

Summary

unavailable

Committee	Not funded via Committee
Research Topics	Crop Science, Diet and Health, Plant Science
Research Priority	X – Research Priority information not available
Research Initiative	X - not in an Initiative
Funding Scheme	X – not Funded via a specific Funding Scheme

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