Genome editing for low acrylamide wheat

Acrylamide is a Class IIa carcinogen which forms from free asparagine during high temperature food processing and cooking methods, such as the Maillard reaction. It is present in many food stuffs, including coffee, potatoes and wheat. As wheat consumption increases, the level of wheat-derived dietary acrylamide increases. Breeding commercial wheat varieties which are naturally low in free asparagine could lower the levels of acrylamide in consumer diets. This project, which represents a collaboration between Rothamsted Research and the University of Bristol, as well as industrial partners, aims to use the latest genome editing technologies to breed low-acrylamide wheat to be incorporated in wheat breeding programs.

Genome editing techniques have allowed for accelerated improvement of crop species. This is currently particularly important as the European Commission is reviewing the regulatory framework for acrylamide levels in food. Wheat plants lacking a functional asparagine synthetase-2 (ASN2) will be created using the CRISPR/Cas9 system. ASN2 expression is only detectable in the grain so a knockout mutation should not affect the ASN levels in vegetative plant tissues but reduce the acrylamide levels in wheat products.