Effect of GLU-A1 locus substitution with GLU-D1 on biochemical and rheological properties in two Italian bread wheat lines

Abstract

Two Italian bread wheat lines, N11 and N18, were used as donors of initial genetic material to generate new lines through chromosomal engineering to develop lines with improved technological properties. Overall, this work resulted in the generation of two potential marketable lines expressing six different high molecular weight glutenin subunits due to the introgression of Glu-D1a and Glu-D1d allelic variants into the GLU-A1 locus of N18 and N11, respectively. Furthermore, two other lines expressing a double dose of the allelic variant of the parental lines, 2 + 12 for N11 and 5 + 10 for N18 were crafted.

The harvest from two experimental seasons was evaluated at the biochemical and genetic level, by UPP, A-PAGE, SDS-PAGE, and gene expression, and at the technological level using alveograph and farinograph tests. Despite adding gluten subunit pair 5 + 10, dough quality didn't improve. This lack of improvement may be caused by i) the excessive dough tenacity in lines that already carry the 5 + 10 or 2 + 12 subunit pair at the GLU-D1 locus; ii) the specific genetic backgrounds of the parental lines. The improvement in rheological properties was found to be more strongly associated with the substitution at the GLU-A1 locus with GLU-D1 than with the genetic background of the lines.