By RINTARO SAKURAI/ Staff Writer
September 8, 2023 at 07:00 JST
The glutinous buckwheat variety was used in making these “soba” noodles. (Provided by Kyoto University)
Scientists said they have developed the world’s first glutinous variety of buckwheat, a breakthrough that could ease production of “soba” noodles and help in the global battle against food shortages.
Rice, wheat and other grain species have glutinous varieties, but buckwheat had none and remained loose when boiled.
Wheat flour or other ingredients are typically added as a thickener when soba dough is made from buckwheat flour.
The scientists from Kyoto University, the Riken national research institute and elsewhere sequenced the buckwheat genome with high precision to enable efficient breeding research.
They said the waxy and sticky buckwheat variety that they developed allowed for easy production of highly coveted “ju-wari soba” (100-percent soba), made from buckwheat flour alone.
A high level of expertise is normally required to make ju-wari soba.
The glutinous buckwheat variety can be grown on highlands, making it a promising crop species to deal with food shortages, they said.
Cereal starches comprise amylopectin, which generates stickiness, and amylose, which does not. Stickiness develops in rice, wheat and other grain species when genes that make an enzyme responsible for amylose synthesis become nonfunctional.
Genome sequencing showed that buckwheat has five such genes, two of which work strongly on the seed part.
The scientists applied a chemical on buckwheat seeds to induce various mutations.
Among the 5,801 individuals with the mutations, the scientists discovered one where one of the two genes is nonfunctional and another one where the other gene is not working.
The researchers crossbred them to generate an individual with both genes being nonfunctional.
The seeds it produced were found to be glutinous.
The sticky buckwheat variety was grown and harvested at the Kyoto University Experimental Farm in Kizugawa, Kyoto Prefecture. Flour from the variety was mixed with ordinary buckwheat flour, enabling the easy production of soba noodles without using wheat flour or other thickeners.
The soba noodles did not snap easily when boiled. They felt more al dente, went down more smoothly in the throat and were more aromatic, the scientists said.
“Using genome information to develop high-yield buckwheat varieties that are more resistant to environmental stress could help solve the food issue,” said Yasuo Yasui, a Kyoto University assistant professor of plant genetics who was on the research team.
Their research results were published Aug. 10 in the online edition of Nature Plants, a British science journal.
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