Plant-Genomics-2016_Posters-Accepted-Abstracts

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Volume 4, Issue 3 (Suppl) Adv Crop Sci Tech
ISSN: 2329-8863 ACST, an open access journal
Page 89
Notes:
Plant Genomics 2016
July 14-15, 2016
conferenceseries.com
July 14-15, 2016 Brisbane, Australia
4th International Conference on Plant Genomics
Benjamin Dubois et al., Adv Crop Sci Tech 2016, 4:3 (Suppl)
Development of molecular markers in order to assess the α-gliadin immunogenic content of an
international spelt collection
Benjamin Dubois1, 2, Pierre Bertin1 and Dominique Mingeot 2
1Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium
2Walloon Agricultural Research Center, Belgium
Gluten is the water insoluble protein fraction found in the flour of several cereals such as wheat and spelt. Its ingestion is responsible
of celiac disease (CD) in genetically predisposed individuals (1-2% of the human population). Alpha-gliadins are a class of
proteins of the gluten fraction playing an important role in this pathogenesis with 4 main toxic epitopes recognized by the immune
system. In each α-gliadin, the number of toxic epitopes ranges from 0 to 6 since one of them can be duplicated and mutations can
alter their composition. Less attention has been paid to spelt than wheat breeding and a high genetic diversity is still held in spelt
germplasm collections. A collection of more than 250 spelt accessions from all over the world, including landraces, cultivars and
breeding materials was assembled to carry out a genetic diversity study based on their immunogenic profile. Expressed α-gliadins
were sequenced and high variations in the epitope composition and occurrence were observed depending on both the accession and
the genome (A, B or D) they were expressed from. Thus, we developed PCR markers which specifically target genome-specific motifs.
Since the epitope mutated forms lower or suppress the α-gliadin immunogenicity, we are currently developing molecular markers
targeting some epitope variants. This will help to investigate the immunogenic content of all the accessions gathered in the spelt
collection. This could enable us to highlight toxicity differences among the accessions and thus would be useful in breeding programs
to develop safer varieties for CD patients.
Biography
Benjamin Dubois has completed his Bio-Engineering studies in Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, Belgium. He is currently working on a research project at the Walloon
Agricultural Research Center, Belgium since 2014. In parallel, he is pursuing his PhD at the Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium.