Cereal Chem 62:350-355   |  VIEW ARTICLE
Improvement of Wheat Protein by Traditional Breeding and Genetic Techniques.

V. A. Johnson, P. J. Mattern, C. J. Peterson, and S. L. Kuhr. Copyright 1985 by the American Association of Cereal Chemists, Inc. 

Genetic variation for grain protein concentration amounting to five percentage units has been demonstrated in wheat and related species. Atlas 66 and Nap Hal possess major genes which regulate amount of protein. Amount of grain protein tends to be negatively correlated with yield, but correlation coefficients seldom exceed 0.6, indicating that much of the variation in protein is independent of yield and that simultaneous breeding advances in yield and protein are possible. This was demonstrated by the successful transfer of the Atlas 66 genes for high-protein content to the productive hard red winter wheat cultivar Lancota. Genetic variation for lysine, the first limiting essential amino acid in wheat protein, is too limited in wheat germ plasm to be successfully utilized by breeders.