Storage proteins of wheat grains (gliadin and glutenin) are able to form gluten, a unique elastic complex. The relationship between the protein composition of gluten, traits of plants, and grain quality is determined by the linkage between genes controlling the synthesis of certain protein components or groups (blocks) of such genes, and the genetic systems responsible for individual or aggregate selectively important quality indices. Genetic determinacy of storage proteins and the independence of their composition from locality, year, and cultivation conditions ensure practical reliability of the revealed genotype-trait relationship.Considerable opportunities for improving technological and baking properties of wheat at the cultivar level consist of using protein markers of economically useful plant traits for selection [1].Wheat cultivars that are polymorphous with respect to the composition of gliadin and glutenin components represent a convenient model for revealing the relationship between protein polymorphism and the variability of economically valuable cultivars. For this reason, the main practical value of studying protein polymorphism is the search for a consistent correlation between the level of expression of the main traits of grain yield and indices of grain and gluten quality, on the one hand, and allele variants of blocks of gliadin components, on the other hand.The main goal of this work was to perform a comparative study of the composition of gliadin components and to find a correlation between gliadin components and the main selective traits of plant yield and the indices of quality of grain, flour, dough, and gluten.
MATERIALS AND METHODSStudy objects. The study was performed with spring wheat cultivars Rollo ( R ) and Drott ( D ) and four constant hybrids obtained by crossing these cultivars (R × D-I, R × D-II, R × D-III, and R × D-IV; generations F 9 and F 10 ). The spring-wheat cultivar Drott (Fylgia II × Sviöf 0990) is a high-yield cultivar with a sufficiently strong culm, which exhibits a high resistance to fungal diseases. The cultivar Rollo (k-45657, Norway) was subjected to mass-scale selection to obtain the cultivar Tyumenskaya rannyaya [2].Seeds of parental cultivars and hybrid strains were grown in 1999-2001 under field conditions on experimental plots in families. Each family used for analyzing qualitative traits consisted of ten plants. The main biometric parameters used in analysis included the ear length, the number of spikelets and grains in the major ear, the weight of grains in one ear, and the weight of 1000 grains.Isolation of gliadin. Ground wheat caryopses were treated with 70% ethanol, and extract was centrifuged at 11000 g for 15 min. Supernatant containing predominantly gliadins was mixed with aluminum-lactate buffer (pH 3.1), methylene green (which allows visualization during electrophoresis), and glycerol (to increase density). Electrophoresis in 10% polyacrylamide gel was performed as described in [3], with some modifications.After electrophoresis, gels were fixed in...