The polysaccharides of cereal grain are not only important sources of calories in the human diet but also have health benefits related to their physical properties, digestion in the small intestine and fermentation in the colon. These contribute to the well-established health benefits associated with the regular consumption of whole grain cereal foods. There is therefore considerable interest in modifying the amounts and compositions of starch and the major non-starch polysaccharides (arabinoxylan and β-glucan) to develop new types of cereals with improved health benefits, notably reduced glycaemic index in the small intestine and improved properties as DF in the colon. This may be achieved by exploiting genetic variation in composition with the ability to generate additional variation using mutagenesis and transgenesis. The development and adoption of such varieties will allow health benefits to be delivered to large populations in low cost staple foods such as bread, noodles and pasta.
TILLING technology provides a very powerful non-GM approach to identify useful mutations which can be exploited in conventional plant breeding, as demonstrated by the increasing number of platforms developed in different crops (Sikora et al., 2011). In addition, the access to this technology is being facilitated by the establishment of public services offered by many laboratories. This technology should therefore make it possible to modify starch and NSP polysaccharide composition in a wider array of cereal crops, to generate healthier food products with increased amounts of fibre and/or resistant starch.