New pastas or cookies that melt in your mouth like butter are a step closer, thanks to a key discovery about wheat proteins.
Bakers use hard wheats to make bread and soft wheats for cookies and cakes.
Scientists have known since the 1970's that one gene controls wheat texture. It directs wheat kernel cells to make proteins called puroindolines. Until now, scientists haven't understood the relationship between puroindolines and hardness. This pinB has glycine as the 46th amino acid in the protein. The scientists tested more than 200 North American hard wheats.