Investigation of Protein Composition in Historical and Modern Hard Red Spring Wheat Cultivars
Abstract
Many hard red spring (HRS) wheat cultivars have been released in North Dakota with improved traits. In this study, 30 HRS wheat cultivars released between 1910 and 2013 were investigated. The objectives of this study were to determine how wheat protein chemistry changed over the last century, and if modern wheat is more toxic in terms of celiac disease in comparison to historical wheat. The gliadin and glutenin protein profiles were analyzed using HPLC, and immunogenic peptides causing celiac disease was determined using mass spectrometry. Cluster analysis was performed to evaluate how the cultivars clustered with regard to parentage and protein separation profiles. The results indicated that ω-gliadin together with glutenin proteins may have a positive contribution towards favorable dough properties, and that these cultivars can be clustered according year when parentage and protein HPLC area data are used. Additionally, immunogenic peptides were detected in both historical and modern wheat.