Funded under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP), Mission 4 Component 2 Investment 1.3, Theme 10.
Funded under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP), Mission 4 Component 2 Investment 1.3, Theme 10.
Improving the nutritional value of legumes by reverse genetic approach...
Coordinator
New breeding techniques like genome editing will be used to produce customised safety food and to generate lines with an improved nutritional profile covering both compounds with beneficial properties and reducing anti-nutritional components. Biotechnological processes will be used to eliminate toxic compounds to produce new food/beverages from novel substrates. Tailored (bio)technological approaches will be set up to valorise alternative protein sources (i.e., cricket powder, micro- and macro-algae, single cell proteins, and yeast biomasses, agri-food and fishery by-products, insect-based foods. Set- up of a safe system of cellular agriculture for the development of novel food, like cultured meat and cheese in connection with Spoke 2 and 4)
Protocol for the development of novel and innovative food/beverages (M36)
Use of genome editing for producing safe food (M36)
Grain legumes represent a sustainable protein source of utmost importance for global food security. Pea (Pisum sativum L.) and lentil (Lens culinaris Medik.) are the first and third most widespread cool-season grain legumes in the world, respectively. In the last 15 years, both the cultivated area and the production of these two species dramatically increased, reflecting a trend towards the consumption of plant-based protein sources and sustainable farming. Grain legumes also produce anti-nutritional compounds (ANCs) that are toxic, unpalatable, or anti-nutritive for human consumption due to their abilities to block nutrients, inhibit metabolism or reduce digestion. Non-protein ANCs are particularly limiting the use of legumes in food products, as they can be thermostable, and thus resistant to thermic treatments.
Germplasm collections of pea and lentil, together encompassing about 200 landraces and cultivars originating all major growing countries worldwide, are available at the germplasm bank of the Department of Soil, Plant and Food Science of the University of Bari. A large screening will be carried out to select genotypes with improved nutritional profile (in terms of proximate composition, fatty acid composition, mineral (Fe and Zn) content and bioactive phenolic compound content) and anti-nutritional profile (with focus on phytates and oligosaccharides.
For pea, superior lines will be also searched by reverse genetics breeding approach based on TILLING (Targeted induced local lesions in genomes). This will be focused on: the gene encoding the myo-inositol phosphate synthase (MIPS), representing the first and rate-limiting enzyme of the phytic acid pathway; the gene STS1, encoding the stachyose synthase, required for the biosynthesis of both stachyose and verbascose in pea.
The activity is expected to:
