Oat protein as a sustainable protein source: Structure-function characterization and utilization in novel applications

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The demand for protein ingredients is rising globally, and oat protein has gained renewed interest due to its favorable nutritional profile. However, one of the main concerns in relation to oat protein consumption, is its allergenic potential to illicit the immune response associated with celiac disease (CD). Given the increasing incidence of CD globally, and especially in Canada, it is imperative to understand the celiac allergenicity of oat protein to develop celiac-safe oat protein ingredients. Given my background in analytical techniques such as mass spectrometry in the quantitation of protein allergens, I am uniquely positioned to investigate the celiac allergenicity of oat, an area that has not been extensively studied, thereby gain novel foundational information that will greatly advance our knowledge about celiac disease initiating proteins in oat. Long-term goal: Build a framework that would facilitate the accurate detection and quantitation of grain-based allergens and develop the fundamental knowledge that would lead to the development of grain-based ingredients that are safe for all consumers. The short-term goals of this proposed NSERC Discovery research program over the next 5 years are to explore how oat protein celiac antigenicity varies across diverse oat cultivars and determine strategies to reduce the celiac antigenicity of oat. The specific objectives are: (i)Develop a validated tandem mass spectrometry-based method for the quantitative analysis of celiac epitopes in oat and determine the variability of celiac antigenicity among diverse oat cultivars. (ii)Identify specific avenin protein fractions when separated based on hydrophobicity, and determine the celiac antigenicity of the different protein fractions (iii)Develop novel protein modification approaches to reduce the amount of celiac epitopes in diverse cultivars with the goal of developing celiac-safe oat protein isolates Impact of the research program: With the acquisition of new knowledge regarding quantitatively analyzing oat protein celiac allergenicity through robust and highly sensitive proteomics techniques, the proposed program will open prospects in determining the allergenicity in oat as well as other grains. The proposed program will also provide insights as to how we could exploit the natural variation in oat protein chemistry to develop oat protein ingredients that are hypoallergenic and safe for consumption by all consumers. By way of unravelling how protein molecular structure can be manipulated to reduce oat protein celiac allergenicity, the proposed program will spearhead novel research in the area of hypoallergenic protein ingredient development. Overall, the proposed work will also benefit the Canadian grain production and processing industry by determining how to produce protein ingredients that are safe for all consumers.