Structural organization and functional divergence of high isoelectric point α-amylase genes in bread wheat ( Triticum aestivum L.) and barley ( Hordeum vulgare L.)

Background High isoelectric point α-amylase genes (Amy1) play major roles during cereal seed germination, and are associated with unacceptable high residual α-amylase activities in ripe wheat grains. However, in wheat and barley, due to extremely high homology of duplicated copies, and large and complex genome background, the knowledge on this multigene family is limited.