Molecular Characterization of Seven Novel Glu-A1 m x Alleles from Triticum monococcum ssp. monococcum

Seven Glu-A1 m allelic variants of the Glu-A1 m x genes in Triticum monococcum ssp. monococcum , designated as 1Ax2.1 a , 1Ax2.1 b , 1Ax2.1 c , 1Ax2.1 d , 1Ax2.1 e , 1Ax2.1 f , and 1Ax2.1 g were characterized. Their authenticity was confirmed by successful expression of the coding regions in E. coli , and except for the 1Ax2.1 a with the presence of internal stop codons at position of 313 aa , all correspond to the subunit in seeds. However, all the active six genes had a same DNA size although their encoding subunits showed different molecular weight. Our study indicated that amino acid residue substitutions rather than previously frequently reported insertions/deletions played an important role on the subunit evolution of these Glu-A1 m x alleles. Since variation in the Glu-A1x locus in common wheat is rare, these novel genes at the Glu-A1 m x can be used as candidate genes for further wheat quality improvement.