This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Depending on the cultivar, higher concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO₂) in the atmosphere can significantly alter the protein composition of wheat. This affects not only baking quality but potentially also the tolerability of wheat products.
This is the conclusion of a new study led by the Leibniz Institute for Food Systems Biology at the Technical University of Munich. According to the study, the adaptation of crops to climate change should in the future focus not only on high yields but also on quality characteristics such as protein composition. The research is published in the journal Food Chemistry.
As a result of climate change, the global CO₂ concentration in the atmosphere has risen from around 340 ppm in 1980 to about 425 ppm in 2024. Depending on future socioeconomic developments, it could rise to around 600 ppm by 2050. Wheat, one of the world's most important staple foods, will also grow under significantly higher CO₂ concentrations in the future.
To date, however, only a few field trials have investigated how elevated CO₂ concentrations affect the protein composition of wheat. To fill this knowledge gap, the interdisciplinary team of researchers cultivated 10 winter wheat cultivars under realistic growing and environmental conditions. They exposed some of the plants to an elevated CO₂ concentration (eCO₂, 546 ppm).
The other plants grew under current CO₂ conditions. After harvest, the researchers analyzed the composition of wheat proteins in the various grain samples using a high-resolution mass spectrometric method they had developed themselves. They focused on proteins such as amylase/trypsin-inhibitors, puroindolines and gluten proteins, as well as celiac disease-active peptides.
In general, the content of amylase/trypsin-inhibitors increased under elevated CO₂ conditions. In contrast, the concentrations of puroindolines, gluten proteins and certain celiac disease-active peptides—which may be produced from gluten proteins during digestion—decreased. "However, the extent of these changes depended largely on the specific wheat cultivar," says Sabrina Geisslitz, principal investigator and research associate in Katharina Scherf's research group at the Leibniz Institute.
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