wheat

Most of our modern crops were not selected for based on nutritional content so much as yield, ease of harvesting, appearance, etc. In other words, human agricultural endeavors have always been superficial, ignoring the inner qualities of our crops.

Turns out, modern science may allow us to improve our modern wheat strains to restore some of the nutritional qualities lost when we selected them from natural crops.

An article in the November 24th issue of Science describes the identification of a gene, Gpc-B1, coding for a protein called NAM-B1 which affects wheat grain protein, zinc, and iron content. This gene is mutated in the version of wheat (T. turgidum ssp. durum) that we use for pasta and bread and which accounts for about 20% of all calories consumed by humans worldwide. The mutation reduces the amount of protein, zinc and iron in the wheat grains by as much as 30%, meaning most of the wheat we consume is defective nutritionally compared with its wild ancestor, emmer wheat (Triticum turgidum ssp. dicoccoides). Crossing wild wheat with modern wheat crops will hopefully allow an increased protein and mineral content of the wheat we consume without affecting (we hope!) things like yield and taste.