| New flours from
tomorrow's wheats |
November 6, 1998
By Marcia Wood
Tomorrow's wheat plants might yield designer flours for making delicious, wholesome new
breads, pastas and other appetizing foods. To produce these innovative flours, scientists
with the Agricultural Research Service are using
genetic engineering techniques to rebuild key flour genes.
The genes cue wheat plants to make proteins called high-molecular-weight glutenins. In one
gene rebuilding experiment, increasing the length of some glutenin genes increased the
time required to properly mix the dough. That's a boon to bakers, because increased
dough-mixing time is a key indicator of dough strength. Dough strength is an asset because
it leads to high-quality yeast-raised breads.
Strong doughs trap tiny bubbles of carbon dioxide gas formed naturally by yeast during
mixing and rising. Bubbles enable doughs to rise, helping form high, light, finely-
textured loaves.
Research geneticist Olin
D. Anderson led the wheat genetic engineering experiments in his lab at the ARS Western Regional Research Center, Albany,
Calif. ARS has patented some of the
research and is seeking business partners to commercialize the technology. ARS is the
chief research agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
An article in the November issue of the ARS monthly journal, Agricultural Research, tells more about the
wheat biotech discoveries. View the article on the World Wide Web at:
http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/AR/archive/nov98/gene1198.htm
Scientific contact: Olin D. Anderson, ARS Western Regional Research Center, 800 Buchanan
St., Albany, CA 94710, phone (510) 559-5773, fax (510) 559-5777, oandersn@pw.usda.gov .N1457 |
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