Genetic dissection of durum wheat arabinoxylan content

Arabinoxylans (AX) are the major dietary fibers (DF) components in wheat and their consumption has been associated with multiple health benefits. However, in most of the countries across the world, the daily DF consumption is well below the minimum quantity suggested by most health organizations. Selection of wheat varieties with higher AX content could be an efficient approach to improve the daily consumption of DF.

Several studies revealed that wheat grain AX content is highly genetically controlled, and that wide AX content variation exists across different wheat lines suggesting that breeding for higher AX content is possible. Genomic regions significantly associated with greater AX content have been identified in bread wheat, however, more studies exploring the genetic control of this trait on durum wheat are needed.