Although the mature cereal grain consists predominately of starch with only about 10–15% of protein, it is the protein fraction which is largely responsible for quality. In the case of wheat the quality for breadmaking, for other baked goods (biscuits, wafers, cakes and pastries) and for noodles and pasta is determined by the gluten protein fraction, while the nutritional quality of barley and wheat for monogastric livestock is limited by the low contents of essential amino acids in the prolamin storage proteins. In the case of malting barley the quality is determined not only by the proteins that accumulate during grain development but also by enzymes synthesised de novo during germination. In the present paper we will briefly review our studies of grain quality in barley and wheat, and speculate how quality parameters can be manipulated by genetic engineering.
