Abstract
Ubiquitous nature of prolamin proteins dubbed gluten from wheat and allied cereals imposes a major challenge in the treatment of celiac disease, an autoimmune disorder with no known treatment other than abstinence diet. Administration of hydrolytic glutenases as food supplement is an alternative to deliver the therapeutic agents directly to the small intestine, where sensitization of immune system and downstream reactions take place. The aim of the present research was to evaluate the capacity of wheat grain to express and store hydrolytic enzymes capable of gluten detoxification. For this purpose, wheat scutellar calli were biolistically transformed to generate plants expressing a combination of glutenase genes for prolamin detoxification. Digestion of prolamins with barley endoprotease B2 (EP-HvB2) combined with Flavobacterium meningosepticum prolyl endopeptidase (PE-FmPep) or Pyrococcus furiosus prolyl endopeptidase (PE-PfuPep) significantly reduced (up to 67%) the amount of the indigestible gluten peptides of all prolamin families tested. Seven of the 168 generated lines showed inheritance of transgene to the T2 generation. Reversed phase high-performance liquid chromatography of gluten extracts under simulated gastrointestinal conditions allowed the identification of five T2 lines that contained significantly reduced amounts of immunogenic, celiac disease-provoking gliadin peptides. These findings were complemented by the R5 ELISA test results where up to 72% reduction was observed in the content of immunogenic peptides. The developed wheat genotypes open new horizons for treating celiac disease by an intraluminal enzyme therapy without compromising their agronomical performance.
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Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Ellison Mackenzie and Rhoda Brew-Appiah for laboratory assistance, Richa Gemini for the bioinformatics support, Pat Reisenauer for greenhouse assistance, Robert Zemetra for help with the wheat genetic transformation, and the two anonymous reviewers whose comments helped us in improving the manuscript.
Funding
This work received financial support by NIH grants 1R01 GM080749-01A2, and Clemson Faculty Succeeds grant 15-202-EQUIP-5701-430-1502211.
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S. Rustgi, D.v.W., S. Reinbothe, and B.L. designed the research; C.E.O., N.W., J.H.M., and S. Rustgi performed the research; C.E.O., N.W., J.H.M., D.v.W., and S. Rustgi analyzed the data; and S. Rustgi, C.E.O., B.L. and S. Reinbothe wrote the paper.
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Osorio, C.E., Wen, N., Mejias, J.H. et al. Development of wheat genotypes expressing a glutamine-specific endoprotease from barley and a prolyl endopeptidase from Flavobacterium meningosepticum or Pyrococcus furiosus as a potential remedy to celiac disease. Funct Integr Genomics 19, 123–136 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10142-018-0632-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10142-018-0632-x