Polymorphism of Pinb-1 Gene Length in Aegilops biuncialis Vis.

Puroindolines (puroindoline a and puroindoline b) determine the texture of the wheat grain, which affects milling properties of the grain and water absorption properties of the flour. The level of common wheat hardness is controlled by the allelic composition at the Ha locus on the short arm of chromosome 5D, which contains the closely linked Pina-D1 and Pinb-D1 genes. Aegilops species can be a source of novel variants of puroindoline genes for enriching the wheat gene pool. Among them is the tetraploid species Ae. biuncialis Vis. (UUMM). In our study, the polymorphism of puroindoline gene length was analyzed in Ae. biuncialis using PCR amplification with gene-specific primers. We analyzed a collection of Ae. biuncialis accessions originating from the Crimean Peninsula. Polymorphism with respect to the number of amplicons produced with gene-specific primers to the puroindoline b gene was revealed: there were one (about 520 bp) or two amplification products (about 520 and 500 bp). The frequency of accessions with two amplicons in the collection was 12.5%. Samples with two amplicons were found in the eastern and southern parts of the area of the species on the Crimean Peninsula. Probably, in the Ae. biuncialis accessions with two amplicons, the fragment of about 520 bp corresponds to the Pinb-U1 gene; the 500-bp fragment, to the Pinb-M1 gene, and this allele may be similar to the rare Pinb-M1-III allele of Ae. comosa.