Asparagine in plants

Abstract Interest in plant asparagine has rapidly taken off over the past 5 years following the report that acrylamide, a neurotoxin and potential carcinogen, is present in cooked foods, particularly carbohydrate‐rich foods such as wheat and potatoes which are subjected to roasting, baking or frying at high temperatures. Subsequent studies showed that acrylamide could be formed in foods by the thermal degradation of free asparagine in the presence of sugars in the Maillard reaction. In this article, our current knowledge of asparagine in plants and in particular its occurrence in cereal seeds and potatoes is reviewed and discussed in relation to acrylamide formation. There is now clear evidence that soluble…