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Molecular genetics of puroindolines and related genes: allelic diversity in wheat and other grasses

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Abstract

The hardness or texture of cereal grains is a primary determinant of their technological and processing quality. Among members of the Triticeae, most notably wheat, much of the variation in texture is controlled by a single locus comprised of the Puroindoline a, Puroindoline b and Grain Softness Protein-1 (Gsp-1) genes. Puroindolines confer the three major texture classes of soft and hard common wheat and the very hard durum wheat. The protein products of these genes interact with lipids and are associated with the surface of isolated starch (as a protein fraction known as ‘friabilin’). During the past ten years a great diversity of alleles of both Puroindoline genes have been discovered and significant advances made in understanding the relationship between the gene presence/absence, sequence polymorphism and texture of cereal grains. Efforts have also focussed on Puroindoline and Gsp-1 genes in diploid progenitors, other Triticeae grasses and synthetic wheats in order to understand the evolution of this gene family and find potentially useful variants. The puroindoline homologues in other cereals such as rye and barley are also receiving attention. This work summarises new developments in molecular genetics of puroindolines in wheat and related Triticeae grasses, and the related genes in other cereals.

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Abbreviations

GSP:

Grain softness protein

INDEL:

Insertions/deletions

nt:

Nucleotide

ORF:

Open reading frame

SNP:

Single nucleotide polymorphism

TRD:

Tryptophan-rich domain

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank the anonymous reviewer for a thorough and critical review, which helped greatly with the revision of this manuscript. The assistance of Stacey Sykes in the preparation of this manuscript is gratefully acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Environment and Biotechnology Centre, Faculty of Life and Social Sciences, Swinburne University of Technology, P.O. Box 218, Melbourne, VIC, 3122, Australia

    Mrinal Bhave

  2. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Western Wheat Quality Laboratory, E-202 Food Science & Human Nutrition Facility East, Washington State University, P.O. Box 646394, Pullman, WA, 99164-6394, USA

    Craig F. Morris

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Correspondence to Mrinal Bhave.

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Bhave, M., Morris, C.F. Molecular genetics of puroindolines and related genes: allelic diversity in wheat and other grasses. Plant Mol Biol 66, 205–219 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11103-007-9263-7

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