Cereal Chem 50:735 - 744.  |  VIEW ARTICLE
The Microstructure of Wheat Protein Fibrils.

J. E. Bernardin and D. D. Kasarda. Copyright 1973 by the American Association of Cereal Chemists, Inc. 

Wheat endosperm protein is shown to be present in sheet form when wetted. It is suggested that these sheets result from a laminar deposition of the storage protein in the protein bodies of the developing wheat kernel. The sheets of endosperm protein rupture under stress forming fibrillar webs of protein which are composed of fibrils ranging in diameter from fifty to several thousand Angstroms. The larger fibrils are shown to be aggregates of the smaller fibrils interacting laterally. Two mechanisms are proposed for the elasticity of the gluten protein which could result from the interactions of these protein fibrils.