Allele-Dependent Barley Grain β-Amylase Activity

• Published in: Plant physiology (Bethesda) 1998-06, Vol.117 (2), p.679-685
• Main Authors: Marla J. Erkkilä, Robert Leah, Ahokas, Hannu, Cameron-Mills, Verena
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Agronomy. Soil science and plant productions; Alleles; Amino Acid Sequence; Barley; Base Sequence; beta-Amylase - biosynthesis; beta-Amylase - genetics; beta-Amylase - metabolism; Biological and medical sciences; Cloning, Molecular; Complementary DNA; Crosses, Genetic; Exons; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Gene Regulation and Molecular Genetics; Generalities. Genetics. Plant material; Genes, Plant; Genetic inheritance; Genetic Linkage; Genetic loci; Genetic resources, diversity; Genetics and breeding of economic plants; Genomics; Grains; Hordeum - enzymology; Hordeum - genetics; Hordeum spontaneum; Hordeum vulgare; Introns; Israel; Molecular Sequence Data; Open Reading Frames; Plant material; Polymerase chain reaction; Polymerase Chain Reaction - methods; Recombinant Proteins - biosynthesis; Recombinant Proteins - chemistry; Recombinant Proteins - metabolism; Sequence Alignment; Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid
• ISSN: 0032-0889; 1532-2548
• DOI: 10.1104/pp.117.2.679

The wild ancestor of cultivated barley, Hordeum vulgare subsp. spontaneum (K. Koch) A. & Gr. (H. spontaneum), is a source of wide genetic diversity, including traits that are important for malting quality. A high β-amylase trait was previously identified in H. spontaneum strains from Israel, and transferred into the backcross progeny of a cross with the domesticated barley cv Adorra. We have used Southern-blot analysis and β-amy1 gene characterization to demonstrate that the high β-amylase trait in the backcross line is co-inherited with the β-amy1 gene from the H. spontaneum parent. We have analyzed the β-amy1 gene organization in various domesticated and wild-type barley strains and identified three distinct β-amy1 alleles. Two of these β-amy1 alleles were present in modern barley, one of which was specifically found in good malting barley cultivars. The third allele, linked with high grain β-amylase activity, was found only in a H. spontaneum strain from the Judean foothills in Israel. The sequences of three isolated β-amy1 alleles are compared. The involvement of specific intron III sequences, in particular a 126-bp palindromic insertion, in the allele-dependent expression of β-amylase activity in barley grain is proposed.