The high-molecular-weight glutenin subunit composition of Japanese hexaploid wheat landraces

The endosperm storage proteins of 174 Japanese wheat ( Triticum aestivum ) landraces were fractionated by sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis to determine their high-molecular-weight (HMW) glutenin subunit composition. These are alleles for complex gene loci, Glu-A1 , Glu-B1 , and Glu-D1 , that are present in Japanese hexaploid wheat landraces. These were identified by comparison with the subunit mobility previously found in hexaploid wheat. Twenty-four different, major glutenin HMW subunits were identified. Each landrace contained 3–5 subunits, and 17 different glutenin subunit patterns were observed for 13 alleles in Japanese landraces. Japanese landraces showed specific allelic variation in glutenin HMW subunits, different from those in non-Japanese hexaploid wheats.