Gluten is the main functional component of wheat, and is the main source of the viscoelastic properties in a dough. One of the gluten group is glutenin, which is composed of high molecular weight (HMW) and low molecular weight (LMW) subunits. The HMW glutenin subunits (HMW-GS) have been shown to play a crucial role in determining the processing properties of the grain. They are encoded by the Glu-1 loci located on the long arms of homeologous group one chromosomes, with each locus comprising two genes encoding x- and y-type subunits. The presence of certain HMW subunits is positively correlated with good bread-making quality. The highly conserved N- and C- terminal contaning cystein residues which form interand intra-chain disulphide bonds. This inter chain disulphide bonds stabilize the glutenin polymers. In contrast, the repetitive domains that comprise the central part of the HMW-GS are responsible for the elastic properties due to extensive arrays of interchain hydrogen bonds. In this review, we discuss HMW-GS, HMW-GS structure and gluten elasticity, relationship between HMW-GS and bread wheat quality and genetic engineering of the HMW-GS.

미성숙 종자로부터 추출된 전체 RNA를 이용하여 합성한 cDNA와 LMW-GS 특이 프라이머세트를 이용하여 43개의 LMW-GS 유전자를 분리하였다. 각각의 유추 아미노산은 상동성이 높은 20개의 시그널 펩타이드, N-말단 영역, 반복서열영역 그리고 C-말단 영역을 가지며 C-말단 영역에 분자내 혹은 분자간 이황화 결합을 형성하는 전형적인 8개의 시스테인을 가지고 있었다. 이들 시스테인의 위치는 첫번째, 일곱번째를 제외하고는 보존되어 있었다. Ikeda