The Gluten Gene: Unlocking the Understanding of Gluten Sensitivity and Intolerance

Abstract

Wheat flour is one of the most important food ingredients containing several essential nutrients including proteins. Gluten is one of the major protein components of wheat consisted of glutenin (encoded on chromosome 1) and gliadin (encoded on chromosome 1 and 6) and there are around hundred genes encoding it in wheat. Gluten proteins have the ability of eliciting the pathogenic immune responses and hypersensitivity reactions in susceptible individuals called “gluten-related disorders (GRDs)”, which include celiac disease (CD), wheat allergy (WA), and non-celiac gluten sensitivity (NCGS). Currently removing gluten from the diet is the only effective treatment for mentioned GRDs and studies for the appropriate and alternative therapeutic approaches are ongoing. Accordingly, several genetic studies have focused on breeding wheat with low immunological properties through gene editing methods. The present review considers genetic characteristics of gluten protein components, focusing on their role in the incidence of gluten-related diseases, and genetic modifications conducted to produce wheat with less immunological properties.

A consensus map for quality traits in durum wheat based on genome-wide association studies and detection of ortho-meta QTL across cereal species

“…A similar association was investigated on qhotspot5 where it was detected on the Chinese Spring genome again genes for gliadin and glutenin associated with DOE, DOTE, GPS, and GS. Both these associations are in accordance with data reported in the literature which located genes encoding glutenin and gliadin on chromosome groups 1 ( Gli-A1 , Gli-B1 , Gli-D1 , Glu-A1 , Glu-B1 , Glu-D1 , Glu-A3 , Glu-B3 , and Glu-D3 loci) and 6 ( Gli-A2 , Gli - B2, and Gli-D2 loci) ( Zaefizadeh et al, 2010 ; Dubois et al, 2016 ; Utebayev et al, 2019 ; Asri et al, 2021 ).…”

Gluten Induces Subtle Histological Changes in Duodenal Mucosa of Patients with Non-Coeliac Gluten Sensitivity: A Multicentre Study

“…Systemic immune activation is reported to damage the intestinal epithelium [5][6][7] in NCGS. The genetic and host immune responses are recognised by increased intraepithelial CD3(+) T cells and increased cytokines as a response to a gluten challenge [8].…”

The modulation of macrophage subsets in celiac disease pathogenesis

“… 1 , 2 , 3 This disorder is caused by abnormal immune responses to gluten proteins (a mixture of gliadins and glutenins), which are found in certain cereal grains like wheat, rye, and barley. 1 , 4 , 5 Gluten is enriched in glutamine and proline amino acids and is incompletely digested in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract leading to a remaining fraction of 33‐mer peptides, which is highly toxic for CD patients. 6 In fact, gluten, environmental factors, and host genetic makeup are involved in CD pathogenesis.…”