Habtamu Zeleke

Composition of and variation in high- and low-molecular weight glutenin subunits, and omega gliadins in Ethiopian tetraploid wheat germplasm

Abstract A collection of 120 Ethiopian tetraploid wheat accessions was analysed for high-molecularweight (HMW) glutenin subunit, low-molecular weight (LMW) glutenin subunit and omegagliadin composition by SDS–PAGE. For the HMW glutenin subunits, a new allelic variant,2****, was detected which has not been previously described at the Glu-A1 locus. A high pro-portion of Glu-A1x banding pattern was observed in durum wheat. For the Glu-B1 locus fourdifferent banding patterns were detected. Among those HMW glutenin subunits, 7 þ 8 werethe most common, while subunits 14 þ 15 and 6 þ 8 were found to be rare. A high degreeof variation was evident for the LMW glutenin subunits and D-zone omega gliadins. Theassociation of the composition of the gluten with quality has been discussed. This wide vari-ation can be used in improving the quality of wheat and to widen its genetic base. Keywords: accessions; Ethiopia; high-molecular weight glutenin subunits; low-molecular weight glutenin subunits;omega gliadins; quality of tetraploid wheat