A biotechnological approach to directly assess the impact of elevated endogenous a-amylase on Asian white-salted noodle quality.

Flours from engineered wheat grain overexpressing a single β-amylase type 3 (TaAMY3) were compared to flour from germinated grains to study the impact of elevated levels of β-amylase on small scale noodle quality. Results showed that -amylase alone significantly reduced cooking time and increased cooking loss but had no detrimental effect on flour color, noodle color or firmness. Noodles produced from sprouted grains were significantly detrimentally affected for all the above quality characteristics, in particularly after 24 and 48 hours imbibition. A strong correlation was observed between decreases in unextractable polymeric protein (UPP) levels, and noodle firmness. These findings raise important questions as to the supposition that β-amylase is the source of the adverse effects of pre-harvest sprouting (PHS) and late maturity β-amylase (LMA) on Asian white salted noodles and highlights the usefulness of applying biotechnology in elucidating how flour components affect end product quality.