Chia (Salvia hispanica) is one of the most popular nutrition-rich foods and pseudocereal crops of the mint family Lamiaceae. Chia seeds are a rich source of proteins, polyunsaturated fatty acids, dietary fibers, and antioxidants. A team of scientists at Oregon State University has sequenced the chia genome and in doing so provided a blueprint for future research that capitalizes on the nutritional and human health benefits of the plant.
Chia is an annual herbaceous plant of the family Lamiaceae, which also includes popular culinary herbs.
It is cultivated in Southern Mexico and Central America for its nutrient-rich seeds containing proteins, polyunsaturated fatty acids, dietary fibers, antioxidants, and minerals.
Compared to dietary fiber sources like soybean, wheat, and maize, chia seeds contain approximately 54g/100g dietary fiber, of which 93% is insoluble fiber.
Similarly, 60% of all fatty acid comprises polyunsaturated fatty acids, and proteins comprise 18-24% of the seed mass.
Moreover, the health-benefiting effects of chia seeds on improving muscle lipid content, cardiovascular health, total cholesterol ratio, triglyceride content, and anticarcinogenic properties have been demonstrated in humans and animals.
Also, chia seeds’ high dietary fiber content helps alleviate the hypoglycemic effect and stabilizes blood glucose levels in type-2 diabetic patients.
“Our research opens up possibilities for scientists to study chia seed through the lens of improving human health while at the same time continuing to further our knowledge of all the nutritional benefits of chia,” said Oregon State University’s Professor Pankaj Jaiswal.
“Now we are at the point where long-term food and nutrition security requires diversifying the human diet by breeding and making genetic improvement to nutrient-rich, so-called minor crops like chia,” said Oregon State University’s Dr. Sushma Naithani.
In their research, the authors assembled the haploid genome of chia with an estimated genome size of 356 Mb.
They identified genes and genetic markers in chia that could aid agricultural researchers in breeding the plant to amplify traits in the plant that are valuable to human health.
They found 29 genes involved with biosynthesis of polyunsaturated fatty acids and 93 genes that aid the gel-forming property of chia seeds.
They also found 2,707 genes highly expressed in the seed that are likely to generate protein-derived small bioactive peptides (biopeptides).
When the seed protein is digested in the intestinal tract, these small biopeptides are released and absorbed in the body and have potential properties that may help alleviate human health conditions like type-2 diabetes and hypertension.
“This is the first report of in-silico annotation of a plant genome for protein-derived small biopeptides associated with improving human health,” the researchers said.
The findings were published in the journal Frontiers in Plant Science.
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Parul Gupta et al. 2023. Reference genome of the nutrition-rich orphan crop chia (Salvia hispanica) and its implications for future breeding. Front. Plant Sci 14; doi: 10.3389/fpls.2023.1272966
