Identification of discrepancies in grain quality and grain protein composition through avenin proteins of oat after an effort to increase protein content

Abstract

Oat prolamin (avenin) is a family of proteins that contain several polymorphic components. The high interspecific variability of avenin among cultivars, electrophoretic patterns have been used for grain protein comparison and species relationships. Therefore, the present study was carried out to evaluate the effect of environment on avenin constitution following an effort to increase protein content of oat using different approaches. The avenin electrophoretic patterns of 25 samples resulting from 20 oat cultivars and 5 mutated oat lines grown or developed in different fields and greenhouses were compared. Quantification of total proteins and SDS-PAGE analysis of avenin protein extracts were carried out. Different pattern of avenin allele in electrophoretic gel allowed the comparison within and between groups. This analysis shows that the cultivars obtained from Swedish fields had differences in the number of alleles compared with the parental cultivar, so were not stable across sites. The study revealed that oats treated with nitrogen and the selected mutated lines showed increase in protein concentration, with consistent avenin loci to the parental line, so these lines are now being used as potential candidates for developing high-protein oat lines in the future. Our results provide useful information, on the stability of modifications, for breeders aiming to increasing the content and nutritional value of oat protein. The study will increase our knowledge in the stability of different modifications and thus to accordingly select oat lines with stable and improved nutritional values.