HIGH-MOLECULAR-WEIGHT GLUTENIN SUBUNIT VARIATION IN WILD AND CULTIVATED EINKORN WHEATS (TRITICUM SPP., POACEAE)

Variation in high molecular weight (HMW) glutenin subunit composition among wild and cultivated einkorn wheats (2n = 2x = 14, AA) was invest igated using one-(SDS-PAGE and urea/SDS-PAGE) and two-dimensional (IEF x SDS-PAGE) electrophoretic analyses. The material comprised 150 acce ssions of Triticum urartu, 160 accessions of T. boeoticum, 24 accessio ns of T. boeoticum subsp. thaoudar and 74 accessions of primitive dome sticated T. monococcum from many different germplasm collections. The biochemical characteristics of HMW-glutenin subunits of T. boeoticum a nd T. monococcum were highly similar to one another but distinctly dif ferent from those of T. urartu. All the species analysed were characte rised by large intraspecific variation and only three HMW-glutenin sub unit patterns were identical between T. boeoticum and T. monococcum. C onsistent with the distinct nature of T. urartu, all its HMW-glutenin patterns were different from those found in T. boeoticum and T. monoco ccum. The differences detected between these species might reflect the ir reproductive isolation and are consistent with recent nomenclatural and biosystematic treatments that recognise T. ta al tu as separate s pecies from T. boeoticum and T. monococcum. The presence of three dist inct glutenin components in some accessions of the species studied see ms to be evidence for the existence of at least three active genes con trolling the synthesis of the HMW-glutenin subunits in the A genome of wild and primitive domesticated diploid wheats. Results indicate also that HMW-glutenin subunits could represent useful markers for the eva luation of genetic variability present in different wild diploid wheat collections and subsequently for their conservation and future utilis ation.