Recovery of Wheat Heritage for Traditional Food: Genetic Variation for High Molecular Weight Glutenin Subunits in Neglected/Underutilized Wheat

Alvarez Alvarez,Guzmán Guzmán

doi:10.3390/agronomy9110755

Abstract

Club wheat (Triticum aestivum L. ssp. compactum (Host) Mackey), macha wheat (T. aestivum L. ssp. macha (Dekapr. & A.M. Menabde) Mackey) and Indian dwarf wheat (T. aestivum L. ssp. sphaerococcum (Percival) Mackey) are three neglected or underutilized subspecies of hexaploid wheat. These materials were and are used to elaborate modern and traditional products, and they could be useful in the revival of traditional foods. Gluten proteins are the main grain components defining end-use quality. The high molecular weight glutenin subunit compositions of 55 accessions of club wheat, 29 accessions of macha wheat, and 26 accessions of Indian dwarf wheat were analyzed using SDS-PAGE. Three alleles for the Glu-A1 locus, 15 for Glu-B1 (four not previously described), and four for Glu-D1 were detected. Their polymorphisms could be a source of genes for quality improvement in common wheat, which would permit both their recovery as new crops and development of modern cultivars with similar quality characteristics but better agronomic traits.

Highlights

Wheat is an important crop that has been associated with human food for many centuries [1].It is the basis for a diverse range of products, mainly bread, noodles, pasta, and beer, which are present in most diets worldwide
In many places throughout the world, the search for more balanced and healthier diets has strengthened the return to traditional products [4]
One of the main problems is the need to use the flour of modern cultivars to develop these old products, and this is not successful in all cases because the modern cultivars have characteristics adapted to new uses

Summary

Introduction

Wheat is an important crop that has been associated with human food for many centuries [1] It is the basis for a diverse range of products, mainly bread, noodles, pasta, and beer, which are present in most diets worldwide. One of the main problems is the need to use the flour of modern cultivars to develop these old products, and this is not successful in all cases because the modern cultivars have characteristics adapted to new uses. In this context, recovery of the materials that were traditionally used to develop these products has proven to be key in this revival

Methods

Findings

Discussion

Conclusion