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Identification of Glutenin Alleles in Wheat and Triticale Using PCR‐Generated DNA Markers
Author(s) -
Smith Rex L.,
Schweder M. E.,
Barnett R. D.
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
crop science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.76
H-Index - 147
eISSN - 1435-0653
pISSN - 0011-183X
DOI - 10.2135/cropsci1994.0011183x003400050042x
Subject(s) - glutenin , biology , triticale , gluten , protein subunit , gene , genetics , polymerase chain reaction , biochemistry
Quality in wheat ( Triticum aestivum L. em Thell.) is a very complex trait; however, the water insoluble gluten proteins are responsible for the elasticity and cohesiveness (strength) of dough and are important determinants of breadmaking quality. High molecular weight glutenin subunits encoded by genes on the long arms of Group 1 chromosomes have been associated with gluten strength, and a portion of the variability between cultivars can be attributed to glutenin subunit composition. Of the glutenins, Subunits 5 + 10 encoded by the D genome have been found to have the largest positive effect on dough strength, whereas the allelic Subunits 2 + 12 have a negative effect. Therefore, it has been important to incorporate the genes for the 5 + 10 subunits into bread wheats. There has been considerable interest in improving the dough strength and quality of soft wheats and triticale ( X Triticosecale Whittm.) to use them in bread‐like products. Glutenin subunit screening is accomplished using electrophoresis (SDS‐PAGE). In this paper, we report the development of an alternative screening method based on the glutenin genes themselves, using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Primers designed from computer analyses were synthesized and tested on the cloned subunit 10 gene ( Glu‐D1‐2b ), 10 wheat cultivars of known subunit composition, and six triticales. Although the Glu‐D1‐2b (Dy10) and Glu‐D1‐2a (Dy12) genes have 98.9% DNA sequence similarity, marker fragments capable of consistently identifying those genotypes were amplified. Fragments correlating with glutenin subunit composition offering possibilities of extending the PCR screening system to other subunits were noted.