Restriction fragment analysis of ‘null’ forms at the Gli-1 loci of bread and durum wheats

Abstract

Wheat accessions lacking some of the ω- and γ-gliadin components encoded by the Gli-1 loci on the short arm of chromosome 1D in bread wheat and chromosome 1A in durum wheat were studied by two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and restriction fragment analysis. Digested genomic DNAs of 'normal' and 'null' forms were probed with a cDNA clone related to ω-/γ-gliadins and with a genomic clone encoding an LMW subunit of glutenin. The hybridisation patterns with the ω-/γ-gliadin probe were similar to those of cvs 'Chinese Spring' and 'Langdon' used as standards for bread and durum wheats, respectively, but several restriction fragments located on the 1D chromosome of bread wheat and the 1A chromosome of durum wheat were absent in the 'null' forms. In addition, specific LMW glutenin fragments encoded by the same chromosomes were also absent in the 'null' forms, suggesting that simultaneous deletions of blocks of genes for both ω-/γ-gliadins and LMW glutenins had occurred. Comparisons of the protein and RFLP patterns enabled some proteins to be mapped to specific restriction fragments.