Temporal trends in the diversity of durum wheat varieties grown in Spain based on gliadin alleles

Abstract

Gliadin alleles are inherited co-dominantly, they have revealed large levels of inter-varietal polymorphism and identification of a genotype is possible immediately by the electrophoretic protein phenotype. The gliadin loci control the synthesis of a group of proteins named as blocks of gliadins. The main Gli loci are located on the chromosomes of the first (Gli-1) and sixth (Gli-2) homoeologous groups. Alleles at each locus differin number and electrophoretic mobility of encoded gliadins. This ensures a great diversity of the A-PAGE patterns and, therefore, provides a great possibility to distinguish a high number of wheat genotypes and to describe them in terms of gliadin allele composition (Fig.1). Comparative analysis of gliadin markers indifferent groups of wheats (old and new varieties, several samples of a cultivar…) may reveal genetic erosion, different types of selection and loss of genetic identity.