Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is one of the major staple crops in the world and is used to prepare a range of foods. The development of new varieties with wider variation in grain composition could broaden their use. We characterized grains and flours from oil-accumulating transgenic wheat expressing the oat (Avena sativa L.) endosperm WRINKLED1 (AsWRI1) grown under field conditions. Lipid and starch accumulation was determined in developing caryopses of AsWRI1-wheat and X-ray microtomography was used to study grain morphology. The developing caryopses of AsWRI1-wheat grains had increased triacylglycerol content and decreased starch content compared to the control. Mature AsWRI1-wheat grains also had reduced weight, were wrinkled and had a shrunken endosperm and X-ray tomography revealed that the proportion of endosperm was decreased while that of the aleurone was increased. Grains were milled to produce two white flours and one bran fraction. Mineral and lipid analyses showed that the flour fractions from the AsWRI1-wheat were contaminated with bran, due to the effects of the changed morphology on milling. This study gives a detailed analysis of grains from field grown transgenic wheat that expresses a gene that plays a central regulatory role in carbon allocation and significantly affects grain composition.
Keywords: Triticum aestivum; WRINKLED1; aleurone cells; carbon allocation; cereal endosperm; oil biosynthesis; transcription factor; triacylglycerol; wheat flour.