While the gluten-free diet is often attacked as a fad, the reality is that up to 6% of the world's population—almost half a billion people—suffer from gluten sensitivity, resulting in symptoms ranging from depression and anxiety to BPD and schizophrenia.

The most extreme version, celiac disease, is an autoimmune disorder in which gluten damages the lining of the small intestine. This affects around 1 in 100 people worldwide.

Celiac.org

Some scientists, like Dr. Rodney Ford, author of The Gluten Syndrome, estimate that the real numbers are far higher, and up to 50% of the world may be gluten sensitive.

Ultimately, gluten sensitivity is a debilitating issue for many, and "the only effective treatment is a gluten-free diet."

If you have gluten sensitivity, you've likely noticed that gluten-free baked goods tend to crumble and fall apart without additives, because gluten gives baked goods their elasticity.

These issues make the possibility of celiac-safe (yet high-quality) wheat alluring to millions.

A CRISPR Solution

A group of CRISPR researchers are seeking to fix these problems by genetically-engineering a celiac-safe wheat that retains the high-quality baking properties of gluten.

This would be accomplished by making wheat that "turns off" the immunogenetic epitopes that trigger symptoms. Epitopes are portions of antigens, in this case the gliadin gluten protein, that trigger immune responses.

The researchers found that celiac disease "is triggered by immunogenic epitopes, notably those present in α-, γ-, and ω-gliadins."

CRISPR-Cas9 is the most well-known gene editing tool, which combines a guide RNA ("molecular GPS") with a Cas endonuclease ("molecular scissors") to finely target and manipulate genes.

CRISPR acts as a bacterial immune system to protect against phages. In 2012, researchers discovered that we could manipulate this for our own uses, and commercialized the technology.

By applying CRISPR Cas9 to the aforementioned gliadins, researchers could silence, delete, and/or edit these proteins, potentially reducing a patient's exposure to celiac disease epitopes.

As the paper notes, "this has resulted in [wheat] lines that have strongly reduced gluten content."

Will We See Celiac-safe Wheat on Our Shelves?

The possibility of celiac-safe wheat in our supermarkets is very alluring, but is it realistic?

The truth is, genetic engineering is nothing new. Humanity has been doing it for thousands of years, through the practice of selective breeding, ever since primitive people modified plant and animal development via trial and error.

Genetic engineering is why we have plump, sugary fruit and docile, wooly sheep.

It's also why the majority of the wheat we consume today has higher yields, as wheat breeding programs have been used to make shorter and more uniform, disease-resistant wheat crops that result in higher yields.

It stands to reason, then, that we'll use modern gene manipulation technology like CRISPR to improve wheat further.

In fact, CRISPR has been used in a wide variety of applications already, from modified biofuels and cattle armour to COVID-19 diagnostics.

The financial motive is there as well, as the gluten-free products market is estimated to be worth an impressive $43.65 billion by 2027, with a high annual growth rate of almost 10%.

In the end, it'll take some time to reach our shelves, but we're likely to see a celiac-free wheat in the future.