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Characterization of Glutenin Protein Fractions from Sequential Extraction of Hard Red Spring Wheats of Different Breadmaking Quality¹

¹Published with the approval of the Director, Agricultural Experimental Station, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND 58105. ²Department of Cereal & Food Sciences, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND 58105. ³Corresponding author. E-mail: khalil.khan@ndsu.nodak.edu

Gluten proteins from two cultivars of hard red spring (HRS) wheat with good and poor breadmaking quality were fractionated into 13 fractions by sequential extraction with dilute hydrochloric acid. Each subfraction was characterized by multistacking (MS) SDS-PAGE under nonreducing conditions, followed by imaging densitometry. The glutenin polymers from the origins of MS-SDS-PAGE were analyzed by SDSP-PAGE under reducing conditions to determine the composition of high and low molecular weight subunits. The results showed that fractions differed significantly in glutenin-to-gliadin ratios and in the size distribution of glutenin polymers. The earlier precipitated fractions were composed of more gliadins but fewer glutenin polymers. However, the glutenin polymers gradually increased in their relative quantities with the residue having the largest glutenin-to-gliadin ratio. The size distribution of glutenin polymers differed significantly from early precipitated to later fractions. The relative quantities of glutenin aggregates at the 4% origins increased significantly. The ratio of high molecular weight (HMW) to low molecular weight (LMW) glutenin subunits increased significantly from early to intermediate fractions. Between the two cultivars, significant differences were found in the ratio of HMW to LMW glutenin subunits and quantity of SDS insoluble glutenin polymers in the residue fraction with the better breadmaking quality cultivar ND706 having a greater ratio than the cultivar Sharp. It was concluded that the size distribution of glutenin polymers played an important role in determining the differences in breadmaking quality between the good and poor HRS wheat cultivars.