Effects of Wheat Gluten and Its Hydrolysate on Caenorhabditis Elegans

Overview

Wheat gluten is a common ingredient of commercial foods. This study observed how exposure to wheat gluten and its hydrolysate (WGH) affects stress in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans). Due to several evolutionarily conserved systems in C. elegans, it was purported that the results may be representative of the effects of consuming wheat gluten and its hydrolysate on humans. It was hypothesized that wheat gluten exposure would reduce brood size and lifespan under heat shock, which is indicative of increased stress, whereas exposure to WGH would increase both brood size and lifespan under heat shock, indicative of decreased stress. For exposure, the substances were combined with the food source of the C. elegans, the noninfectious OP50 Escherichia coli (E. coli) strain. Wheat gluten hydrolysate was acquired by digesting wheat gluten with pepsin. Two experiments were conducted: a pilot experiment with wheat gluten exposure, and an experiment with both wheat gluten and WGH exposure. The pilot experiment had 4 groups: the control, 0.1 mg/mL wheat gluten, 0.5 mg/mL wheat gluten, and 1 mg/mL wheat gluten, with one plate per group. All heat shock groups were exposed to 37 degrees Celsius and checked at intervals of 15 minutes until death. Results of the pilot experiment suggest that wheat gluten was associated with adverse concentration-dependent effects for both lifespan under heat shock and brood size. The second experiment had three groups: the control, 1 mg/mL wheat gluten, and 1 mg/mL WGH with 3 plates per group. Data suggested that, whereas wheat gluten had clear adverse effects on the C. elegans in both the brood size and heat shock assays in comparison to the control, WGH exposure had no clear effects. This supports the part of the hypothesis regarding wheat gluten, but does not support the hypothesis regarding WGH. Additionally, the extent of the adverse effect of wheat gluten appeared to be concentration-dependent. This indicated that higher exposure to wheat gluten was associated with increased stress. Future directions for this experiment include repeating it with a much larger sample size.

Competition history

• AJAS 2020 Category not listed

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