Perennial Ryegrass Contains Gluten-Like Proteins That Could Contaminate Cereal Crops

Abstract

Background: To ensure safe consumption of gluten-free products, there is a need to understand all sources of unintentional contamination with gluten in the food chain. In this study, ryegrass (Lolium perenne), a common weed infesting cereal crop, is analysed as a potential source of gluten-like peptide contamination.Materials and Methods: Ten ryegrass cultivars were analysed using shotgun proteomics for the presence of proteins from the prolamin superfamily. A relative quantitative assay was developed to detect ryegrass gluten-like peptides in comparison with those found in 10 common wheat cultivars.Results: A total of 19 protein accessions were found across 10 cultivars of ryegrass for the protein families of PF00234-Tryp_alpha_amyl, PF13016-Gliadin, and PF03157-Glutenin_HMW. Protein and peptide homology searches revealed that gliadin-like peptides were similar to avenin and gamma-gliadin peptides. A total of 20 peptides, characteristic of prolamin superfamily proteins, were selected for liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (LC-MS) with multiple reaction monitoring (MRM). Only two of the monitored peptides were detected with high abundance in wheat, and all others were detected in ryegrass. Glutenin and alpha-amylase/trypsin inhibitor peptides were reported for the first time in ryegrass and were noted to be conserved across the Poaceae family.Conclusion: A suite of gluten-like peptides were identified using proteomics that showed consistent abundance across ryegrass cultivars but were not detected in wheat cultivars. These peptides will be useful for differentiating wheat gluten contamination from ryegrass gluten contamination.

Gluten cross contact in oats: retrospective database analysis 2011 to 2023

“…It is possible that the drought contributed to an increase in infesting weeds that may contain gluten, such as ryegrass (not to be confused with the young grass of the rye plant) (19). While some evidence suggests that gluten-like peptides are present in ryegrass, it is unclear whether this gluten, even if present in oats tested in 2022, would have been detected during testing using the R5 ELISA (19). This is an area that requires further exploration.…”

Effects of Fertilization on Soybean Productivity

“…Being an essential component of DNA and RNA, phosphorus determines the genetic code to build proteins and other compounds required for plant structure and genetic transfer [9]. Potassium helps to activate different enzymes by physically changing the shape of the enzyme molecule, releasing nutrients from the complex compounds for the microbes which ultimately enhance crop production [10,11].…”

Pasture intake protects against commercial diet-induced lipopolysaccharide production facilitated by gut microbiota through activating intestinal alkaline phosphatase enzyme in meat geese

“…In China, the most commonly available pasture is ryegrass, which is rich in protein, dietary fiber, fatty acids, iron, zinc, magnesium, calcium, vitamins, essential amino acids, alkaloids, steroids, flavonoids, glycosides, phenols, and tannins ( 33 ). Recently, several reports suggest that ryegrass could regulate intestinal microflora of Beijing-you chickens ( 34 ) and improve ethnomedical properties like being antioxidant, antimicrobial, and anti-inflammatory diseases in animals ( 35 , 36 ). However, up to now, formal mediation analysis experiments about the association between ryegrass (high dietary fiber) intake-induced endogenous ALP-regulated kelch-like ECH-Associating protein 1-nuclear factor erythroid 2 (Keap1-Nrf2) pathway and LPS-induced oxidative stress is lacking.…”