Cereal Chem 52:145 - 155.  |  VIEW ARTICLE
The Effect of Various Extractants on the Subunit Composition and Associations of Wheat Glutenin.

J. A. Bietz and J. S. Wall. Copyright 1975 by the American Association of Cereal Chemists, Inc. 

Wheat flours were extracted sequentially with 0.04M NaCl, 70% ethanol, 0.1N acetic acid (HOAc), 0.01N acetic acid-0.2mM. HgCl2 (HgCl2), and 0.1N acetic acid-0.1% 2-mercaptoethanol (ME). The distribution of nitrogen in each extract was determined, and subunit compositions were examined by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Glutenins, found in the HOAc, HgCl2, and ME extracts differed significantly in subunit composition for each variety; thus glutenin is heterogeneous and can be partially fractionated by different solvents. The HOAc and HgCl2 extracts, upon further fractionation in neutral 70% ethanol, were found to contain 30 to 51% gliadinlike proteins. Carefully defined conditions, including a precipitation step, must be used if purified glutenin is to be isolated from flour extracts.