Improving the end use properties of wheat by manipulating the grain protein composition

The wheat storage proteins account for up to about 60% of the totalgrain proteins. They correspond to the gluten proteins, which form avisco-elastic network that enables dough to be processed into bread, pastaand other products. We are using a range of biochemical, biophysical andmolecular approaches to characterize gluten proteins and to understandtheir role in determining the grain processing properties, focusing on thehigh molecular weight (HMW) subunits of glutenin which are majordeterminants of dough strength. We are also using genetic engineering toexplore the mechanism of glutenin elasticity and to effect improvements,by inserting genes encoding mutant and wild type HMW subunits intomodel lines and commercial cultivars.