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The Performing Protein: Beyond Wheat Proteomics?

¹Department of Food, Environmental and Nutritional Sciences (DeFENS), University of Milan, Italy. ²Corresponding author. Phone: +39-02-50316819. Fax: +39-02-50316801. E-mail: francesco.bonomi@unimi.it ³Istituto di Scienze degli Alimenti, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Avellino, Italy. ⁴Dipartimento di Scienza degli Alimenti, University of Naples, Italy.

Substantial progress has been made in breaking down the complex pattern of proteins in wheat, and the constant improvement of “-omics” approaches has allowed relating the abundance of selected wheat proteins to flour and semolina performance during processing. This strategy has provided some sound molecular basis for the work of geneticists, breeders, and growers. Along with an update on work in this area, this review is meant to highlight that performance-relevant proteins may need specific structural features to carry out performance-relevant functions during processing. In this frame, some of the approaches used to investigate structural features of wheat proteins are discussed, with a focus on water-insoluble gluten proteins and on those approaches that allow minimal disturbance of the protein structure itself. Selected examples of the application of some of these approaches to the study of starting materials and of structural modifications that occur at various processing stages are presented. The effects of process-induced modifications on the various interactions among macromolecules that govern the physical and sensory features of wheat-based foods are also briefly discussed.