Abstract
Since the discovery of acrylamide in food, and the identification of free asparagine as the key determinant of acrylamide concentration in wheat products, our understanding of how grain asparagine content is regulated has improved greatly. However, the targeted reduction in grain asparagine content has not been widely implemented in breeding programmes so far. Here we summarise how free asparagine concentration relates to other quality and agronomic traits and show that these relationships are unlikely to pose major issues for the breeding of low-asparagine wheat. We also outline the strategies that are possible for the breeding of low-asparagine wheat, using both natural and induced variation.
Highlights
Asparagine in Grain and Other TraitsWheat is one of the world’s most important crops, contributing an estimated 18.6%to global daily calorie intake and 19.8% to global daily protein intake in 2018 [1]
Muttucumaru et al had shown sulphur deficiency to cause very high concentrations of free asparagine to accumulate in wheat grain, and Granvogl et al [11] obtained very similar results, with acrylamide formation closely related to asparagine concentration, except in flours from3 extremely
In contrast to other quality traits, the relationship between grain asparagine content and protein has been tested numerous times and the results suggest that there is a positive correlation between the two traits, varying from weak to strong, under different conditions (Table 2)
Summary
Wheat is one of the world’s most important crops, contributing an estimated 18.6%. to global daily calorie intake and 19.8% to global daily protein intake in 2018 [1]. Free asparagine reacts with reducing sugars to form acrylamide [6,7], but free asparagine concentration has been shown to be the major determinant of acrylamide concentration in wheat products in several studies (see [8] for review). Muttucumaru et al had shown sulphur deficiency to cause very high concentrations of free asparagine to accumulate in wheat grain, and Granvogl et al [11] obtained very similar results, with acrylamide formation closely related to asparagine concentration, except in flours from extremely. Acrylamide forms in potato products and the relationship between free asparagine and reducing sugar concentration and acrylamide formation for potato is very different. Potato tubers have higher concentrations of free asparagine than cereal grains and reducing sugar concentration is usually the limiting factor for acrylamide formation, free asparagine concentration does contribute to the variance in some datasets [27]. The clear relationship between free asparagine concentration and acrylamide formation in wheat products means that strategies to control acrylamide formation in wheat-based foods over the last 20 years have targeted free asparagine (Figure 1)
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