High Temperature‐induced Changes in High Molecular Weight Glutenin Subunits of Chinese Winter Wheat and its Influences on the Texture of Chinese Noodles

Abstract

AbstractPost‐anthesis temperature affects wheat flour quality, dough properties and end‐use quality. In order to investigate the changes in high molecular weight glutenin subunit (HMW‐GS) expression caused by elevated temperature and its influences on the texture properties of Chinese noodles, three temperature‐induced (<35 °C) treatments were applied to two cultivars with different gluten strengths. The cultivars were grown outside in 0.75 m2 containers on the farm of Shandong Agricultural University in 2003–2004. Three post‐anthesis temperature treatments, at 15 days after anthesis (DAA), 20 and 25 DAA, respectively, were applied during the grain‐filling period by moving the containers from outside into a greenhouse at three replicates per treatment. At maturity, the HMW‐GS was extracted. The results indicated that the HMW‐GS expression from the wheat with stronger gluten strength appeared to be more tolerant under the different treatments than did that from the weaker dough strength wheat. The same HMW‐GS (5 + 10) from different cultivars showed different effects on noodle quality. Moderately high temperature treatments benefited wet noodle texture quality and noodle scores at a different degree. All HMW‐GS expression in wheat with the weaker strength appeared to be negatively correlated with wet noodle firmness (WNF) and wet noodle cutting force (WNCF). Some correlation coefficients showed significance. However, HMW‐GS expression at Glu‐B1 and individual Glu‐B1x14 expression from the strong wheat demonstrated significantly positive correlations with WNF and WNCF. Individual HMW‐GS expression of the Glu‐B1 and Glu‐B1 location and the X‐type subunits showed significantly positive correlations with the noodle score. The same HMW‐GS at Glu‐D1 from varieties with different gluten strength had different contributions to noodle quality.