A FAST METHOD FOR WHEAT CULTIVAR DIFFERENTIATION USING CAPILLARY ZONEELECTROPHORESIS

Capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) parameters, including capillary l ength, inside diameter, buffer, temperature, voltage, and extraction c onditions, were studied to reduce analysis time and increase resolutio n of wheat proteins. Conditions for the shortest analysis time include : capillary inside diameter, 20 mu m; shortest possible capillary leng th, 27 cm (20 cm to detector); temperature, 45 degrees C; voltage, 22 kV; and pressure injection for 4 sec (0.25 nL). Three alcohol-water ba sed solvent systems were studied to improve extraction and analysis of gliadins; 30% ethanol-water was optimum. Gliadins were extracted from cultivars representative of hard red winter, hard red spring, and sof t wheat classes and separated by CZE. Three separate sets of cultivars that were not differentiable by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis at pH 3.1 were differentiated in less than 10 min each by CZE. Cultivars that were closely related (sister lines or intercrossings) were readi ly differentiated, and cultivars that were not genetically close exhib ited quite different CZE patterns.