Cereal Chem 72:248-251  |  VIEW ARTICLE

Ferguson Plot Analysis of High Molecular Weight Glutenin Subunits by Capillary Electrophoresis.

W. E. Werner. Copyright 1995 by the American Association of Cereal Chemists, Inc. 

The high molecular weight glutenin subunits of wheat endosperm migrate anomalously in sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. This anomalous migration was studied by capillary electrophoresis employing an entangled polymer solution that contained SDS. The nonrigid solution nature of the sieving matrix allowed for the easy preparation of the different matrix concentrations required for the construction of a Ferguson plot. A Ferguson plot analysis of these proteins suggested that the high molecular weight glutenin subunits possessed frictional coefficients similar to those determined for standard proteins of the same size, indicating that anomalous migration in polyacrylamide gels was due to decreased binding of SDS and not to a unique structural conformation in the presence of SDS.