Coeliac disease is an allergy like digestive disease that damages the small intestine. It is caused by wheat-proteins called gluten. People with coeliac disease must follow a gluten free diet throughout their entire life. Gluten is part of wheat flour and occurs in similar form in barley and rye and is the basis for the production of baked goods with porous crumbs from fermentative leavened doughs. The most important gluten proteins are the so called gliadins and glutenins. Whereas the glutenins determine the elastic qualities of the gluten proteins, the gliadins are responsible for the viscosity and are as we know today the cause of the coeliac disease.

First aim of the research project is to confirm the hypothesis that gliadins cause coeliac disease. By transferring the appropiate wheat genes into yeast, pure glutenin will be produced for the first time without any contamination of gliadins. Two important investigations will be conducted with this pure glutenins: voluntary test persons suffering from coeliac disease will be tested. Only then you can see if glutenin really does not cause damage of the small intestine. Furthermore the elastic functions of these proteins will be investigated. If the elasticity is ensured by glutenin, then viscous functions might be maintained by other proteins, for example maize proteins. A mixture of maize flour and wheat glutenins produced by yeast could then deliver baked goods without coeliac properties.

If the hypothesis can be confirmed, that glutenin is non toxic for coeliac patients, experiments to modify maize and wheat will follow. It is planned to improve the baking quality of maize by introducing glutenin genes. In wheat, however, the gliadin genes shall be modified in such way that they can not cause any further damage to the small intestine. Beyond that it is planned to prevent the damaging immune reaction by immunomodulation in a separate project part.

If contrary to the expectations, glutenin is also linked to coeliac disease alternatives have to be chosen. Glutenins must then be modified genetically in such a way that they exhibit no coeliac toxixity but retain their functional baking properties.

The project started in the summer 2000 and will last five years. Working groups from the universities of Munich, Berlin, Hamburg and London are so far involved.

After five years enough data should be available to decide which further steps have to be taken. With the possibility to breed and approve wheat and maize varieties without coeliac toxicity, new bakery products for diseased persons will be available, but certainly not earlier than ten years from now.