146 Characterization of gluten proteins from Triticum tauschii lines that conferred improved quality to bread wheat crosses.

M. TILLEY (1), S. R. Bean (2), P. A. Seib (2), R. G. Sears (3), and G. L. Lookhart (1). (1) USDA, ARS, GMPRC, Manhattan, KS 66502; (2) Dept. of Grain Science & Industry, Kansas State Univ., Manhattan, KS 66506; (3) Dept. of Agronomy, Kansas State Univ., Manhattan, KS 66506.

Triticum tauschii, an ancestral parent of modern bread wheat, has been used in crosses with established cultivars to develop plants bearing disease and insect resistance, and new combinations of gluten proteins. Crosses of the cultivar Century with the T. tauschii accessions TA2450 and TA2460 exhibited shorter mixing times and improved milling and baking characteristics when compared to the parental hexaploid line. The gluten proteins from the T. tauschii lines were examined using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and capillary electrophoresis (CE). Separation of gliadins and glutenins revealed similar profiles to those from hard red winter (HRW) wheat. High molecular weight glutenin subunits (HMW-GS) of T. tauschii and HRW wheats exhibited similar CE patterns. Two novel HMW-GS (43 and 44) were found in T. tauschii. The genes encoding the novel HMW-GS were cloned and DNA sequencing is currently underway to further characterize the novel subunits. Analysis of soluble and insoluble polymeric protein of the T. tauschii lines revealed patterns similar to that of HRW wheat, indicating that the T. tauschii gluten forms a large protein complex as observed in HRW wheat.