Electrophoretic Characterization of Spring Spelt Wheat Gliadins

Gliadin compositions of 95 spring spelts, 5 winter spelts, and Neepawa Hard Red Spring (HRS) wheat were evaluated by acid-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (A-PAGE). Five spring spelts grown in three environments over 2 years were compared to the HRS cultivar Katepwa using A-PAGE and sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE). On the basis of the scoring of 13 bands, the spring and winter spelts diverged widely from Neepawa HRS wheat. None of the spring spelts evaluated had a gliadin protein profile identical to that of commercially available winter spelt. Spring and winter spelts were differentiated from Katepwa HRS wheat based on ω-gliadin composition, in which common wheat was characterized by the presence of a slow-moving ω-gliadin and a strong-staining fast-moving ω-gliadin. Common wheat and spring spelt accessions SK0505, SK0263, and RL5407 (black-hulled spelts) had a distinct strong band in the γ-gliadin region with MW of about 64K which was absent in winter spelts and the spring spelts SK0021 and PGR8801 (white-hulled spelts). The molecular weights of gliadin proteins were in the range of 34K-75K.