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

全球对蛋白质成分的需求正在上升，燕麦蛋白由于其有利的营养成分而重新引起了人们的兴趣。然而，燕麦蛋白消费的主要问题之一是其潜在的致敏性，可能会导致与乳糜泻（CD）相关的免疫反应。鉴于全球乳糜泻发病率的不断上升，特别是在加拿大，了解燕麦蛋白的乳糜泻过敏原是开发乳糜泻安全的燕麦蛋白成分的必要条件。鉴于我在蛋白质过敏原定量分析技术（如质谱分析）方面的背景，我有独特的定位来研究燕麦的乳糜泻过敏原，这是一个尚未广泛研究的领域，从而获得新的基础信息，这将大大提高我们对燕麦中乳糜泻起始蛋白的认识。长期目标：建立一个框架，以促进谷物过敏原的准确检测和定量，并发展基础知识，从而开发出对所有消费者都安全的谷物成分。这项NSERC发现研究计划的短期目标是在未来5年内探索不同燕麦品种的燕麦蛋白乳糜泻抗原性如何变化，并确定降低燕麦乳糜泻抗原性的策略。具体目标是：(1)建立一种有效的串联质谱定量分析燕麦乳糜泻抗原表位的方法，并确定不同燕麦品种乳糜泻抗原性的差异。（ii）在基于疏水性分离的基础上鉴定特定的avenin蛋白组分，并确定不同蛋白组分的乳糜泻抗原性（iii）开发新的蛋白修饰方法，以减少不同品种中乳糜泻表位的数量，以开发乳糜泻安全的燕麦蛋白分离物。随着在定量分析燕麦蛋白乳糜泻过敏原方面的新知识的获得，通过强大和高灵敏度的蛋白质组学技术，该计划将在确定燕麦和其他谷物的过敏原方面开辟前景。该计划还将为我们如何利用燕麦蛋白化学的自然变化来开发低过敏性和对所有消费者安全食用的燕麦蛋白成分提供见解。通过揭示如何操纵蛋白质分子结构来减少燕麦蛋白乳糜泻过敏原，该计划将引领低过敏性蛋白质成分开发领域的新研究。总的来说，通过确定如何生产对所有消费者安全的蛋白质成分，拟议的工作也将使加拿大的粮食生产和加工业受益。

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.