Project description
Eliminating the anti-nutrients vicine and covicine from faba bean
Rich in protein, antioxidants, and micronutrients, faba bean (broad bean) is an ideal crop for plant-based diets and sustainable agriculture. However, the seeds often contain high amounts of the anti-nutrients vicine and convicine, which can cause hemolytic anaemia (favism) in individuals with a genetic disorder known as G6PD deficiency. With the support of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the CleanBean project aims to develop non-genetically modified faba bean varieties that are free of vicine and convicine. First, the project will identify the biosynthetic pathways of vicine and convicine in faba species. Then, it will isolate new faba bean varieties with inactivated pathways using advanced crop technologies. The new varieties should be safe for all humans to consume.
Objective
Faba bean is a high-yielding protein crop well adapted to cold climates. Its seeds contain large amounts of protein, antioxidants, and micronutrients, making it an ideal crop to support the transition toward a plant-based diet. However, faba bean seeds also accumulate high levels of the anti-nutritional alkaloids vicine and convicine. These alkaloids cause hemolytic anemia (favism) in individuals with a genetic deficiency (G6PD deficiency) occurring in ~5% of the world population. Faba bean varieties with reduced levels of vicine and convicine exist, but the residual levels are variable, causing concern for the food industry. The development of varieties devoid of vicine and convicine has been hampered by a lack of genomic resources and insufficient knowledge about their biosynthesis.
In the CleanBean project, I will team up with Prof. Fernando Geu-Flores from the Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences of the University of Copenhagen. I will use recently generated resources to uncover the full vicine and convicine pathway and create faba bean lines devoid of these anti-nutrients. The proposed work involves gene selection through co-regulation & association strategies, pathway elucidation using in vitro and in vivo assays, and pathway inactivation in faba bean using the recently published FIND-IT technology (non-GMO). The impact of CleanBean will be multifaceted, spanning both fundamental and applied research. On the basic science side, the project will uncover the complete pathway of a nucleotide-derived specialized metabolite from plants for the first time. On the applied side, the project will lead to the creation of a vicine- and convicine-free faba bean, thus enabling the safe consumption of faba beans by all individuals and helping transform the landscape of sustainable food production.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques.
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesbiochemistrybiomoleculesproteins
- medical and health scienceshealth sciencesnutrition
- medical and health sciencesclinical medicinehematology
- agricultural sciencesagriculture, forestry, and fisheriesagriculture
You need to log in or register to use this function
Keywords
Programme(s)
- HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Main Programme
Funding Scheme
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European FellowshipsCoordinator
1165 Kobenhavn
Denmark