The 10,000-Year Success Story of Wheat!

Wheat is one of the most important cereal crops in the world as it is used in the production of a diverse range of traditional and modern processed foods. The ancient varieties einkorn, emmer, and spelt not only played an important role as a source of food but became the ancestors of the modern vari...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Telma de Sousa, Miguel Ribeiro, Carolina Sabença, Gilberto Igrejas
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2021-09-01
Series:Foods
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2304-8158/10/9/2124
Description
Summary:Wheat is one of the most important cereal crops in the world as it is used in the production of a diverse range of traditional and modern processed foods. The ancient varieties einkorn, emmer, and spelt not only played an important role as a source of food but became the ancestors of the modern varieties currently grown worldwide. Hexaploid wheat (<i>Triticum aestivum</i> L.) and tetraploid wheat (<i>Triticum durum</i> Desf.) now account for around 95% and 5% of the world production, respectively. The success of this cereal is inextricably associated with the capacity of its grain proteins, the gluten, to form a viscoelastic dough that allows the transformation of wheat flour into a wide variety of staple forms of food in the human diet. This review aims to give a holistic view of the temporal and proteogenomic evolution of wheat from its domestication to the massively produced high-yield crop of our day.
ISSN:2304-8158