Salinity is a major problem affecting crop production worldwide because it reduces yield and limits the expansion of cultivation. This study investigated the effect of irrigation water of different salinity levels on the growth and flowering characteristics of lily ‘Woori Tower’ and ‘Siberia’ cultivars. In both ‘Woori Tower’ and ‘Siberia’, the sprouting rate decreased and the sprout was delayed with increased irrigation water salinity. Plant height, leaf length, and leaf width decreased by 44.7%, 18.8%, and 20% in ‘Woori Tower’, respectively, and 50.7%, 36.4%, and 40% in ‘Siberia’, respectively at 0.5% NaCl compared to the control. Day to leaf yellowing was about 8 days earlier in ‘Woori Tower’ and 51 days earlier in ‘Siberia’ at 0.5% NaCl. SPAD decreased by 21.7% in ‘Woori Tower’ and 53.5% in ‘Siberia’ at 0.5% NaCl. In ‘Woori Tower’, flower height decreased by 9.6% at 0.5% NaCl, and the flower width and pedicel length gradually decreased as the salt concentration increased. Days to the flowering of ‘Woori Tower’ increased up to 3.5 days, as the salt concentration increased. The bulb characteristics of ‘Woori Tower’ also decreased. As the salt concentration increased, the Na+ and Cl- contents of the leaves of ‘Woori Tower’ and ‘Siberia’ increased, while the contents of K+, Mg2+ and Ca2+, decreased.

The ω5-gliadins are the major allergens in wheat-dependent excise-induced anaphylaxis (WDEIA). In this study, SDS-PAGE analysis was used to assign the ω5-gliadins (Gli-B1) alleles in thirty two Korean wheat cultivars, compared with eleven standard wheat cultivars for Gli-B1a~m alleles. These results were reconfirmed with their complementary Glu-B3 low-molecular-weight glutenin subunits alleles tightly linked with Gli-B1 locus revealed with 2-DGE in our previous study. As a result, one Gli-B1b, four Gli-B1d, two Gli-B1f, six Gli-B1m and nineteen Gli-B1h varieties were identified. This is the first report on revealing the Gli-B1 alleles in Korean wheat cultivars and represents valuable basic data on wheat allergy, relationship between gliadin and wheat quality, and development of hypo-allergenic wheat.

A wheat mutant of low-molecular-weight glutenin (LMW-GS) “Gunji-2” at Glu-B3 locus was derived among the double haploid lines. Gunji-2 was derived from F1 plants of Keumkang and Olgeuru crosses using the wheat × maize system according to the procedures of Inagaki and Mujeeb-Kazi at International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT). Deletion of Glu-B3 LMW-GS proteins was found by allele specific DNA marker, one dimensional SDS-PAGE and two dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DGE). Tandom mass spectrometry (MS/MS) was used to obtain direct evidence of LMW-GS deletion. In addition, we examined the basic agronomic traits, protein content, dough properties of mixing and bread loaf volumeof Gunji-2 and parental wheat cultivars grown for two years. This mutant will represent a valuable resource in quality test for specific allele or gene at Glu-B3 locus.

Although it is well known that low-molecular-weight glutenin subunits (LMW-GS) affects bread and noodle processing quality, the function of specific LMW-GS proteins mostly remain unclear. It is important to find a corresponding gene for a specific LMW-GS protein in order to understand the function of the specific LMW-GS protein. The objective of this study was to identify LMW-GS genes and haplotypes using well known Glu-A3, Glu-B3 and Glu-D3 gene specific primers and to interlink their protein products by proteomic approaches in a wheat variety. A total of 36 LMW-GS genes and pseudo-genes were amplified including 11 Glu-3 gene haplotypes, designated as GluA3-13K and GluA3-22K (pseudogene) at Glu-A3 loci, GluB3-33K and GluB3-43K at Glu-B3 loci and GluD3-11K, GluD3-21K, GluD3-31K, GluD3-42K, GluD3-5K, GluD3-6K and GluD3-393K (pseudogene) at Glu-D3 loci. To determine the relationship between gene haplotypes and their protein products (to identify the corresponding LMW-GS proteins), we conducted N-terminal amino acid sequencing and tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) analysis of the 17 LMW-GS spots separated by 2-DGE. Successfully, LMW-GS proteins of the Glu-3 gene haplotypes except pseudo-genes mentioned above were identified. This is the first report on comprehensive characterization of LMW-GS genes and their corresponding proteins and establishment of specific correspondence between each other in a single wheat cultivar. Our approach will be useful to understand the molecular basis of the LMW-GS and to study their contribution to the end-use quality of flour.

Although it is known that the composition of HMW-GSs and LMW-GSs are important factor for end-product quality as bread, noodle and cookie, it is still not clear which HMW-GSs and LMW-GSs confer specific processing properties. In this study, to investigate distinctive glutenin proteins and expression level for characteristic processing properties, we carried out qualitative and quantitative analysis of gluetenin protein in noodle and bread wheat cultivars by two-dimensional electrophoresis. Unexpectedly, five LMW-GS spots were found to be expressed at a common position in all cultivars and these spots may play something in glutenin biosynthesis. Also we found LMS-GS spots to distinguish Korean wheat cultivars mostly used as noodle and western bread wheat cultivars. These spots may contribute to characteristic processing properties. The 2DE results for each cultivar will be used as reference map or protein marker discriminating wheat cultivars, wheat and rice, imported and Korean flour. For quantitative analysis of gluetenin, we calculated relative expression level of the HMW-GS, LMW-GS and HMW-GS/ LMW-GS ratio in each cultivar by 2DE. The results presented in this study provide new insight into relation of specific glutenin proteins and end-use quality and will be useful to choose elite breeding line for improvement of wheat flour quality.

Low-molecular-weight glutenin subunits (LMW-GS) play a crucial role in the processing quality of wheat flour. They are encoded multi gene family located at the Glu-A3, Glu-B3 and Glu-D3 on the short arm of chromosome 1A, 1B and 1D respectively. Typical LMW-GSs are composed of three parts including a short N-terminal domain, a relatively short repetitive domain and a C-terminal domain. Further, typical LMW-GS sequences are divided into LMW-s, LMW-m and LMW-i types, on the basis of the first amino acid of the mature proteins (serine, methionine and isoleucine, respectively). Although it is known that the allelic variation of LMW-GSs affect the properties of dough, it is still not clear which LMW-GSs confer better bread-making quality because of the larger number of expressed subunits and their overlapping mobility with abundant gliadin proteins. Therefore, it is important to characterize LMW-GS genes and develop functional markers to identify different LMW-GS alleles for application in wheat breeding. In this review, we discuss the various aspects of LMW-GS, including their structural characteristics, the development of marker, relationship between LMW-GSs and bread wheat quality, and genetic engineering of the LMW-GSs.