Genetic determinants of plant bioactive production - informing crop breeding for health

人类的饮食在消费习惯方面发生了巨大的变化。在世界范围内，有一种趋势是更多的热量丰富的资源密集型食品。这需要在国家一级加以解决，因为农业做法各不相同，而改变消费者的偏好需要整个粮食供应系统的参与以及文化和社会方面的考虑。人们普遍认为，在饮食中增加植物性食品的消费是改善人类健康的战略目标。如果所选作物在农业上和经济上都是可行的，也有机会解决环境压力。在英国，谷物约占农业部门份额的12%，通过植物育种战略取得了巨大的效益。现在比以往任何时候都更重要的是，这些益处得到最大化，作物，特别是那些在人类饮食中使用量增加的早期阶段的作物，得到了营养益处的优化。苏格兰每年种植超过30万公顷的大麦，生产约190万吨谷物，其中35%用于制麦芽，55%用于动物饲料。大麦是β-葡聚糖的丰富来源，β-葡聚糖是一种重要的可溶性纤维膳食纤维，FDA和EFSA批准了一系列健康声明。每天摄入3克β-葡聚糖已被证明可以减少/降低血液胆固醇。大麦还含有不溶性纤维，有益于肠道健康。Rowett研究所的研究表明，大麦也是生物活性植物化学物质的丰富来源，其中许多已被证明具有抗炎特性。增加饮食中的大麦消费量有助于减少饮食相关疾病的负担，有利于代谢和肠道健康。它还可以为种植者、生产者和食品加工者提供机会。詹姆斯赫顿研究所（JHI）的研究成功地鉴定了控制大麦广泛表型性状的基因，从农业角度对作物进行了重大改良。结合植物育种和基因组学（JHI）与营养和健康（Rowett）的专业知识，该项目将确定具有促进健康性状的大麦品种。这项研究将促进优良大麦种质的开发，这将满足食品供应链日益增长的需求，但也具有促进对负责生产重要植物生物活性物质的基因的新理解的附加价值。已被鉴定为β-葡聚糖含量高的大麦种质将全面筛选其营养含量（蛋白质、可溶性、不溶性纤维），并使用有针对性的LC-MS和广泛的生物活性植物化学物质（约300种）。该表型数据将与外显子组捕获数据配对。使用多变量系统生物学方法的遗传协会和网络的相互作用，负责这些化合物的生产将进行探讨。这将提供有关在作物中生产生物活性物质的新知识。在增加β-葡聚糖、纤维和重要生物活性物质方面被认为最感兴趣的品系将在充分动力的饮食随机人类干预中进行评估（对照传统和市售大麦产品），以评估这些增强的育种性状是否转化为潜在的健康益处。

The human diet has changed dramatically in terms of consumption habits. Worldwide, there is a trend towards more calorie-rich resource intensive food products. This needs to be addressed at a national level, as agricultural practices differ and changing consumer preferences requires engaging across the food supply system as well as cultural and societal considerations. It is well accepted that increasing the consumption of plant-based foods in the diet is a strategic target to improve human health. There is also an opportunity to address environmental pressures if the crops selected are agriculturally and economically viable. In the UK cereals account for approximately 12% of the agricultural sector share and enormous benefits have been achieved through plant breeding strategies. It is now more important than ever that these benefits are maximised and crops, particularly those in the early stages of increased usage in the human diet are optimised for nutrition benefit. Over 300,000 hectares of barley are grown in Scotland each year producing around 1.9 million tonnes of grain, of which 35% goes into malting and 55% is used for animal feed. Barley is a rich source of beta-glucan, an important soluble fibre dietary fibre with FDA and EFSA approved health claims for a range of conditions. Consumption of 3g of beta-glucan per day has been shown to reduce/lower blood cholesterol. Barley also contains insoluble fibre, which benefits gut health. Research at the Rowett Institute has shown that barley is also a rich source of bioactive phytochemicals, many of which have been shown to have anti-inflammatory properties. Increasing barley consumption in the diet could contribute toward reducing the burden of diet-associated disease, benefiting both metabolic and gut health. It could also provide opportunities for growers, producers and food processors. Research at the James Hutton Institute (JHI) has been successful in identifying genes that control a broad range of phenotypic traits in barley, resulting in significant crop improvement from an agricultural perspective. Combining the expertise in plant breeding and genomics (JHI) with nutrition and health (Rowett), this project will identify barley accessions that have health-promoting traits. This research would facilitate the development of elite barley germplasm, which would meet the increased demands of the food supply chain, but also have the added value of contributing towards a novel understanding of the genes responsible for the production of important plant bioactives. Barley germplasm which have been identified to be high in beta-glucan will be comprehensively screened for their nutrition content (protein, soluble, insoluble fibre) and using targeted LC-MS and extensive range of bioactive phytochemicals (approximately 300). This phenotypic data will be paired with exome capture data. Using a multi-variate systems biology approach the genetic associations and network interactions responsible for the production of these compounds will be explored. This will provide new knowledge regarding the production of bioactives in crops. The line considered to be of most interest in terms of increased beta-glucan, fibre and important bioactives will be evaluated (against a conventional and commercially available barley product) in an adequately powered dietary randomised human intervention to assess whether these enhanced breeding traits are translated into potential health benefits.