David A. Somers led that work at the University of Minnesota. He used a technique that he, Kimberly A. Torbert, and geneticist Howard W. Rines of the ARS Plant Science Research Unit in St. Paul, Minnesota, developed for genetically engineering oats. Like the barley foray, oat experiments may lead to development of tasty new foods that rely on new oat flours. Today's oats are grown mostly for animal feed or processed into breakfast cereals and other foods for people. The glutenin experiments with wheat target the protein-rich portion of wheat flour.
Wheat starch is composed of molecules known as amylose and amylopectin.
Wheat flour low in amylose, for example, is desirable for noodlemaking because it improves noodle texture. McCue and Anderson used starch genes from corn to isolate the two in wheat. With the wheat genes now in hand, genetic engineers might soon be able to increase the ratio of amylopectin to amylose. Modifying wheat starch could also make it more suitable for any of hundreds of industrial uses ranging from pastes to papers to textiles. By Marcia Wood, Agricultural Research Service Information Staff.