Study of wheat subaleurone proteins and their technofunctional performance

The goal of this project is to study and gain insight in the characteristics of wheat subaleurone proteins and their techno-functional relevance in cereal based food systems. Literature indicates that the subaleurone protein content can go as high as 54%, which considerably exceeds the endosperm protein content of 8 to 15%. Moreover, these proteins would consist mostly of gluten proteins which display visco-elastic network formation potential which is responsible for the textural characteristics of many wheat based foods. However, limited information is available on the variability in and composition of the subaleurone proteins and information on its techno-functional properties is basically absent. To study the techno-functional relevance of subaleurone proteins, different wheat cultivars will be cultivated under various degrees of N fertilization. Samples will be taken during grain development to study subaleurone development and mature kernels will be used to produce subaleurone enriched fractions following methods which have been recently developed at the research group. These fraction will be used to for a comprehensive characterization the subaleurone proteins. The techno-functional role of the subaleurone proteins will be assessed in bread making experiments following a flour and whole meal reconstitution approach.