Indentification of Microoganisms with Potential Interest for Gluten Degradation

Abstract

Celiac sprue is a chronic disease with high prevalence in most population groups (1:100) of developed countries. So far, the only effective treatment is a strict abstinence from gluten dietary. For these reason, it is necessary the development of new therapies in order to increase the quality of life of these patients. The gluten peptides involved in the disease development have been identified. The proteolytic resistance of these peptides to gastric enzymes digestion related to their amino acid composition, would be involved on their associated toxicity. However, has been demonstrated that these peptides can be hydrolyzated by specific peptidases to proline residues. These results suggest that an alternative therapy could be the use of these enzymes for gluten detoxification. Bacteria from different environment, sourdough and breast milk could be a good option for the screening of enzymatic activities to detoxify the gluten. The selection of strains able to degrade the inmunotoxic gluten peptides is the main goal of this project. The selected strains could be used in future treatments as a functional food connecting again food and health.