Wheat (Triticum sp.) is one of the most important food crops worldwide. Di-, tetra- and hexaploid species are|available, which along with the different subspecies of this genus have been used for food and feed. However,|the genetic diversity of this crop has been seriously compromised, and only two main species; the durum and|bread wheat, currently exist. The germplasm materials that were used in the past in Spain, have been regarded as|ancient wheats, thus forming a group of neglected or underutilized crops that could be an interesting reservoir of|variation for modern wheat breeding. In the last decade, our group has been evaluating and characterizing for the|morphological and quality traits some of these Spanish ancient wheats. In these materials, using the SDS-PAGE|technique and DNA sequencing, we detected an important variability for seed storage proteins, starch synthases|and puroindolines, which are related with three important quality characteristics of wheat: gluten levels, starch levels|and hardness, respectively. These novel variants could be used with the dual goal of genetic improvement and|enriching the gene pool of these components in modern wheat.

Global Wheat Program

English

No CIMMYT affiliation

Lucia Segura

INT3466

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