Researchers at the University of California, Davis, have made a significant advancement in the fight against celiac disease by successfully deleting harmful proteins from wheat. This groundbreaking work, headed by doctoral student Maria Rottersman and wheat geneticist Jorge Dubcovsky, targets alpha-gliadin proteins, a component of gluten that triggers severe reactions in individuals with celiac disease.
The study, published in May 2025 in Theoretical and Applied Genetics, uncovers some thrilling discoveries. The documentary illustrates a range of ways that cultivated wheat varieties may provide safer options for those with the condition. The team’s findings are a major breakthrough in the understanding of gluten-related health issues and how to best address them.
Research Overview
Under the leadership of Jorge Dubcovsky, Maria Rottersman has spearheaded a project focused on developing quality wheat genetics. The team of researchers have created edited wheat varieties that maintain strong baking qualities. They zeroed in on the alpha-gliadin proteins that cause the distressing symptoms of celiac disease, drastically lowering the allergenic potential.
Gluten consists of two classes of proteins: glutenins and gliadins. This study focused specifically on the gliadins, which elicit the most severe responses from celiac patients. Since Rottersman and her colleagues produced seeds from the edited varieties, they followed that up by shuttling those seeds to the California Wheat Commission quality lab to ensure quality.
A chief investigator on the project, Jorge Dubcovsky believes their work is important. He explained, “In our new study, we removed gluten proteins that cause the most severe responses in people with celiac disease. Elimination of these proteins can reduce the possibility of inducing the disease in individuals without celiac.”
Impact on Wheat Quality
One of the main concerns surrounding the deletion of gluten proteins has been the potential negative impact on breadmaking quality. As Dubcovsky was happy to find out, that worry might be misplaced.
Until now, it was thought that removing gliadins would be detrimental to breadmaking quality, he said. Our study shows that this is not the case all the time. What’s more, we could do both decrease wheat allergenicity and improve quality at the same time!
Maria Rottersman expressed her enthusiasm on this front as well, sharing just how thrilled she is by their discoveries. She added, “What’s exciting that we discovered was that this wheat actually makes the flour quality better in some instances!
Collaboration and Future Directions
Conducting the research was a team endeavor between UC Davis, California Wheat Commission and USDA’s Agricultural Research Service. Other authors were German Burguener, Joshua Hegarty, Junli Zhang, Wenjun Zhang, Xiaoqin Zhang. This collaboration highlights both the need for and value of interdisciplinary efforts in tackling agriculture and health-related issues.
Wheat continues to be a global staple crop, serving as one of the leading sources of calories for billions of people. Nonetheless, Rottersman was clear on this point. Wheat is the most widely grown staple crop in the world, and billions of people depend on it for their calories,” he said. The team’s unique strategy connects the dots to develop a better quality wheat that’s safer for consumers.