
New Flours from Tomorrow's Wheats By Marcia
Wood November 6, 1998Tomorrow'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, [email protected] Story contacts Marcia A Wood U.S. Department of Agriculture | |