63 - ‘Genetics of wheat gluten proteins’. Advances in Genetics. Volume 49, Pages 111-184

This chapter focuses on genetic studies related to wheat gluten protein. The importance of wheat in food processing and human nutrition has resulted in a massive volume of research on the crop and grain. The ability to process wheat into such a wide range of products is determined largely by one group of grain components, the gluten proteins, which confer unique visco-elastic properties to wheat doughs. The structures, properties, and genetics of these proteins have been widely studied to determine the biochemical and molecular basis for their functional properties and to make improvements by plant breeding, optimizing agronomy, processing conditions, and genetic engineering. The chapter focuses on gluten proteins to explain their role in determining grain-processing properties and to facilitate improvement of end use quality. The demonstration of ‘‘associations’’ among specific storage proteins and quality parameters has led to practical applications in crop improvement, exemplified by the routine selection of specific patterns of high molecular weight (HMW) subunits of glutenin in plant-breeding programs. Such applications do not require any detailed understanding of the molecular basis for the role of gluten proteins in determining end use quality, but the associations need to be rigorous.