Molecular structure of a novel y-type HMW glutenin subunit gene present in Triticum tauschii

Abstract

An unusually small y-type high molecular weight (HMW) glutenin subunit gene from Triticum tauschii was sequenced. This gene, encoded at the Glu-Dt1 locus was designated 12.4t and is the smallest HMW glutenin subunit gene described so far in Triticum species. Oligonucleotide primers based on published sequences of HMW glutenin genes were designed to amplify the encoding region and the central repetitive domain of the gene, which produced fragments of 1.4 and 0.85 kb, respectively. PCR products were cloned and sequenced. The derived amino acid sequence was compared with the amino acid sequences of the HMW glutenin subunits Dy12t, from T. tauschii, and subunits Dy10 and Dy12 of T. aestivum. The amino acid sequence deduced from the nucleotide sequence demonstrated that deletions of hexapeptides and nonapeptides were responsible for the reduction in the size of this HMW glutenin subunit. The estimated molecular weight of the Dy12.4t subunit, calculated on the basis of the deduced amino acid sequence, was 45,228 Daltons. There were also single amino acid differences in the N-, C-terminal and central repetitive domains of this gene in comparison to the three other y-type subunits encoded at the Glu-D1 locus. The Dy12.4t subunit showed the highest similarity to the Dy12 subunit present in the hexaploid wheat Chinese Spring.