A NEW APPROACH FOR RESISTANT STARCH IN WHEAT

• Sponsoring Institution: National Institute of Food and Agriculture
• Project Status: COMPLETE
• Funding Source: SMALL BUSINESS GRANT
• Reporting Frequency: Annual
• Accession No.: 0233757
• Grant No.: 2013-33610-20852
• Cumulative Award Amt.: $100,000.00
• Proposal No.: 2013-00391
• Project Start Date: Jul 15, 2013
• Project End Date: Mar 14, 2015
• Grant Year: 2013
• Program Code: [8.5]- Food Science & Nutrition

Recipient Organization
ARCADIA BIOSCIENCES, INC
4222 E THOMAS RD STE 245
Phoenix,AZ 85018-2843

Performing Department
(N/A)

Non Technical Summary
The United States is facing increasing levels of childhood obesity that have more than tripled in the past thirty years. With obesity comes a higher risk of related health issues such as diabetes. This project is focused on the development of novel wheat varieties for the production of high resistant starch foods. Resistant starch is considered a form of dietary fiber with beneficial health effects because it is more resistant to digestion and results in a slower release of glucose. Regular wheat varieties typically have very low levels of resistant starch, so the development of high resistant starch wheat would provide a ready means to increase dietary fiber in the diet. For this project, we have identified novel alleles in genes affecting resistant starch levels. Through standard breeding and use of molecular markers, we will develop new pasta and bread wheat varieties high in resistant starch.

Animal Health Component

100%

Research Effort Categories

Basic

(N/A)

Applied

100%

Developmental

(N/A)

Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)	Subject of Investigation (SOI)	Field of Science (FOS)	Percent
701	1541	1040	10%
701	1541	1080	30%
701	1541	2000	10%
701	1545	1040	10%
701	1545	1080	30%
701	1545	2000	10%

Knowledge Area
701 - Nutrient Composition of Food;

Subject Of Investigation
1541 - Hard red spring wheat; 1545 - Durum wheat;

Field Of Science
1040 - Molecular biology; 1080 - Genetics; 2000 - Chemistry;

Keywords

wheat

resistant starch

obesity

Goals / Objectives
The goal of this project is to combine new genetic variation to develop specialized pasta and bread wheat lines. During the duration of the project, we will identify wheat lines that are homozygous for novel combinations of genes. The starch properties of the seed produced by these plants will be evaluated for amylose, resistant starch and total starch levels. The expected output of the project is the development of very high resistant starch wheat lines.

Project Methods
Wheat plants with new alleles in targeted wheat genes affecting starch properties have been identified. Combinations of these new alleles will be developed through standard breeding crosses and backcrosses during the duration of the project. Progeny from crosses will be grown, sampled and DNA will be extracted for genotyping. Confirmation of the presence of the novel alleles will be done using custom molecular markers that can detect single nucleotide differences. Evaluation of the starch properties of the novel wheat varieties will be performed using standard assays for amylose levels, starch content and resistant starch levels.

Progress 07/15/13 to 03/14/15

Outputs
Target Audience: The target audience for this project during this period have been wheat breeders and food companies interested in wheat with higher dietary fiber content in refined flour and whole grain flour. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Nothing Reported How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Nothing Reported What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? We have successfully performed crosses and obtained new genetic variants in bread and pasta wheat lines. The new varieties developed have excellent potential for providing improved levels of dietary fiber in wheat based products.

Publications

Progress 07/15/13 to 07/14/14

Outputs
Target Audience: The target audience for this project during this period have been wheat breeders and food companies interested in wheat with higher dietary fiber content in refined flour and whole grain flour. Changes/Problems: We have encountered skewed segregation ratios compared to expected genotypic combination ratios of the new alleles in both pasta and bread wheat. Because of this, we have obtained fewer than expected homozygous lines. Even so, we have been able to recover homozgous lines in pasta wheat. We will continue to pursue additional combinations of alleles in bread wheat to identify homozygous lines. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? This project has provided the opportunity for several Research Associates to learn new techniques such as KASP genotyping for allelic discrimination of single nucleotide polymorphisms and starch analysis methods. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Nothing Reported What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? We will continue the genotypic analysis of the progeny from the crosses to identfy lines of interest. Phenotypic analysis of the starch in the high priority lines with the desired genotypic combinations will follow.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? We have successfully performed crosses to combine new genetic variants in bread and pasta wheat lines. In the pasta wheat variety, we have identified plants that are homozygous for all the target alleles. Seeds from these plants are currently being analyzed for amylose, resistant starch and total starch levels. The bread wheat lines will be evaluated once homozygous lines are identified.

Publications