Highland barley has a different composition and structure to other crops. It has higher contents of total polyphenol (TPC), total flavonoid (TFC) and β-glucan, which can be supplemented to improve the nutrition of wheat-flour-based food. In this study, the flours of three different grain-colored highland barley varieties Beiqing 6 (BQ), Dulihuang (DLH), and Heilaoya (HLY), were added to Jimai60 (JM, a wheat variety with medium gluten) wheat flour at different substitution levels to investigate their effects on the unextractable polymeric protein (UPP) content, micro-structure, rheological properties and mixing properties of dough, and the color, texture, flavor, and in vitro digestion of Chinese steam bread (CSB). The results showed that the moderate substitution of highland barley (20%) increased the UPP%, optimized the micro-structure of gluten, and improved its rheological properties by increasing dough viscoelasticity. The CSBs made from the composite flours exhibited a similar specific volume, cohesiveness, springiness and resilience to wheat CSB, while the firmness of composite CSBs (particularly JM-HLY-20) was delayed during storage. Importantly, the addition of highland barley increased the contents of TPC, TFC and β-glucan, but decreased the in vitro starch digestibility of CSBs. A sensory evaluation showed that JM-HLY CSB was the most preferable. Taken together, highland barley can be used as a fine supplement to food products, with health-promoting properties.

Fu brick tea (FBT), a product of microbial fermentation from primary dark tea, also known as raw material tea (RMT), has been extensively studied for its functional properties. However, its potential as a staple food supplement for weight loss remains poorly understood. This study compared the weight loss effects of orlistat, traditional plain noodles (NN), and noodles supplemented with varying amounts of RMT (RMTN) and FBT (FBTN), with the aim to elucidate their lipid-reducing effects and underlying mechanisms. Experimental trials on high fat diet fed mice revealed significant weight loss, lipid-lowering, and hypoglycemic effects upon supplementation with orlistat, RMTN, and FBTN. Moreover, supplementation with orlistat, RMTN, and FBTN effectively restored serum and liver-related index levels, mitigating high-fat diet-induced dyslipidemia. Additionally, these supplements ameliorated liver and kidney damage by inhibiting oxidative stress and inflammatory responses. Furthermore, orlistat, RMTN, and FBTN exert their anti-obesity effects primarily by modulating genes associated with lipid metabolism and inflammatory responses and through regulation of the composition and structure of the gut microbiota. Importantly, FBTN demonstrated a significantly stronger lipid-lowering effect compared to RMTN, particularly at higher tea addition ratios. In contrast, NN supplementation exhibited minimal to no weight loss effects. Based on these findings, it could be inferred that FBT holds promise as a staple food supplement to ameliorate high-fat diet-induced obesity and its associated health conditions.

Amino acids are the main form of nitrogen in plants, and their transport across cell membranes relies on amino acid transporters (AATs). Among the plant AATs, the TaATLa subfamily comprises 18 members, yet the bioinformatics characteristics and functions of TaATLa genes in common wheat remain poorly understood due to their complex genomes. This study performed genomic analyses of TaATLas. These analyses included chromosome distributions, evolutionary relationships, collinearity, gene structures, and expression patterns. An analysis of cis-acting elements and predicted miRNA-TaATLas regulatory networks suggests that TaATLas are regulated by light, hormones, and stress signals. Functional assays revealed that TaATLa6 transports glutamine (Gln), glutamate (Glu), and aspartate (Asp) in yeast. In contrast, TaATLa4 specifically transports Gln and Asp. Furthermore, TaATLas exhibits diverse gene expression patterns, with TaATLa4-7D enhancing yeast heat tolerance in a heterologous expression system, indicating its potential role in adapting to environmental stress by regulating amino acid transport and distribution. This study sheds light on the functional roles of TaATLa genes, with implications for improving nitrogen use in wheat and other crop species.

Integrating comparative genomics, QTL mapping and haplotype association revealed variation associated with wheat gluten quality. Structural variants may have larger effects and epistasis provided add...