Proteogenomic Characterization of Novel x-Type High Molecular Weight Glutenin Subunit 1Ax1.1

Analysis of Portuguese wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) landrace ‘Barbela’ revealed the existence of a new x-type high molecular weight-glutenin subunit (HMW-GS) encoded at the Glu-A1 locus, which we named 1Ax1.1. Using one-dimensional and two-dimensional electrophoresis and mass spectrometry, we compared subunit 1Ax1.1 with other subunits encoded at the Glu-A1 locus. Subunit 1Ax1.1 has a theoretical molecular weight of 93,648 Da (or 91,508 Da for the mature protein) and an isoelectric point (pI) of about 5.7, making it the largest and most acidic HMW-GS known to be encoded at Glu-A1. Specific primers were designed to amplify and sequence 2601 bp of the Glu-A1 locus from the ‘Barbela 28’ wheat genome. A very high level of identity was found between the sequence encoding 1Ax1.1 and those encoding other alleles of the locus. The major difference found was an insertion of 36 amino acids in the central repetitive domain.