title: Puroindoline allelic diversity in Indian wheat germplasm and identification of new allelic variants.
abstract: Grain hardness is an important quality trait that influences product development in wheat. This trait is governed by variation in puroindoline proteins (PINA and PINB). Our study evaluated 551 Indian wheat germplasm lines for diversity in Pina and Pinb genes. Eighty-two lines were shortlisted for full length sequencing and grain hardness studies. Sequencing studies identified six unknown alleles: two for the Pina gene and four for the Pinb gene. Five of them were novel with non-synonymous changes in the corresponding amino acid sequences. Identified mutations in the deduced mature proteins and their pre- and pro-peptides influenced the hardness characteristics of the grain. We classified these 82 varieties into different hardness categories with reference to international and Indian systems of classification. The majority of Indian wheat varieties were categorized as hard. This study revealed that unexplored Indian wheat germplasm can be a good source of genetic variability for both Pina and Pinb genes, helping in marker-assisted breeding and in obtaining wheat with different textural properties.
authors.affiliation: National Agri-Food Biotechnology Institute , Mohali-160071, Punjab , India.
authors.forename: Rohit
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.affiliation: National Agri-Food Biotechnology Institute , Mohali-160071, Punjab , India.
authors.forename: Shaweta
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Arora
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnology, Panjab University , Chandigarh-160014 , India.
authors.forename: Kashmir
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Singh
authors.affiliation: National Agri-Food Biotechnology Institute , Mohali-160071, Punjab , India.
authors.forename: Monika
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Garg
keywords: Ha (hardness) locus; allele; hardness index; kernel texture; puroindolines