Polymeric proteins and their association with grain yield in hard red spring wheat lines

• Published in: Euphytica 2013-11, Vol.194 (2), p.187-196
• Main Authors: Tsilo, Toi J., Hareland, Gary A., Ohm, Jae-Bom, Anderson, James A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: absorbance; Agronomy. Soil science and plant productions; Analysis; Biological and medical sciences; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biotechnology; breeding; Crop yield; Crop yields; endosperm; flour; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Genetics and breeding of economic plants; Genotype & phenotype; Grain; grain protein; grain yield; hard red spring wheat; High performance liquid chromatography; Life Sciences; Liquid chromatography; molecular weight; Plant Genetics and Genomics; Plant Pathology; Plant Physiology; Plant populations; Plant Sciences; protein content; Proteins; Retention time; Selective breeding; Spring wheat; sulfates; Triticum aestivum; Varietal selection. Specialized plant breeding, plant breeding aims; Wheat; Yield, quality, earliness, varia
• ISSN: 0014-2336; 1573-5060
• DOI: 10.1007/s10681-013-0912-4

Development of high yielding wheat ( Triticum aestivum L.) varieties with acceptable end-use quality is a major focus in breeding programs worldwide. Variations in molecular weight (Mw) distribution of endosperm proteins are known to influence end-use quality traits. This paper reports the relationship of the size-exclusion high performance liquid chromatography (SE-HPLC) profile of endosperm proteins with grain yield. Flour samples were previously analyzed for Mw distribution of sodium-dodecyl sulfate (SDS) extractable and unextractable proteins using the SE-HPLC protocol. Correlations were calculated between grain yield and HPLC absorbance data obtained at 0.01-min retention time intervals. Although both SDS-extractable and unextractable proteins had positive correlations with grain protein content, only SDS-unextractable very high Mw polymeric proteins (UVHP) had no negative association with grain yield, while SDS-extractable fractions rich in low Mw polymeric proteins had a negative correlation ( r  = −0.41) with grain yield. These results suggest that in an effort to increase grain yield, breeding programs should target grain yield and also increase levels of UVHP and decrease SDS-extractable polymeric proteins, thereby, maintaining acceptable bread-making quality.