Introduction to bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) and assessment for bread-making quality of alleles from T. boeoticum Boiss. ssp. thaoudar at Glu-A1 encoding two high-molecular-weight subunits of glutenin

Two alleles, Glu-A1r encoding high-molecular-weight (HMW) glutenin subunits 39+40 and Glu-A1s encoding HMW glutenin subunits 41+42, were introgressed to bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) cv. Sicco from two accessions of T. boeoticum Boiss. ssp. thaoudar (A genome species, 2n=2x=14). Alleles at Glu-A1 in current commercial bread wheats encode zero or one subunit, and alleles at the homoeoloci Glu-B1 and Glu-D1 encode a maximum of two subunits; hence the maximum number of subunits found in commercial wheats is five, whereas the lines incorporating Glu-A1r and Glu-A1s carry six. Using near-isogenic lines, the current results demonstrated that the introduction of Glu-A1r resulted in diminished dough stickiness and improved stability during mixing compared with Glu-A1a encoding subunit 1, and a small improvement in gluten strength as shown by the SDS- sedimentation test. The introduction of Glu-A1a also resulted in a small improvement in gluten strength predicted by the SDS-sedimentation test. Thus the alleles are of potential value in breeding programmes designed to improve bread-making quality.