Characterisation of European oat germ plasm: allelic variation at complex avenin loci detected by acid polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis

European oat germ plasm involving 252 varieties, landraces, and breeding lines has been characterised by allelic constitution at three independent complex avenin loci. A total of 26 avenin alleles (blocks), including 7 at the Ave1 (Avn A), 10 at the Ave2 (Avn B), and 9 at the Ave3 (Avn C) loci were revealed. The avenin block variants were shown to be coded by gene clusters of 2–5 single expressed genes. A catalogue of the identified avenin blocks as well as a list of the avenin phenotypes is presented. It has been discovered that about 8% of the oat varieties were heterogeneous comprising two or three different avenin profiles. The varieties assayed have been classified into 79 avenin phenotypes made up by the different alleles. Forty-six of these phenotypes were distinguished uniquely, while the other 33 were shared by groups possessing from 2 to 41 genotypes each. Members within these groups had certain ancestors in common. Non-random patterns of both the avenin allele and phenotype distributions have been found. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.