Identification of a novel HMW glutenin subunit and comparison of its amino acid sequence with those of homologous subunits

Aegilops tauschii is the donor of the D genome of common wheat (Triticum aestivum). Genetic variation of HMW glutenin subunits encoded by the Glu-1Dt locus of Ae. tauschii has been found to be higher than that specified by the Glu-1D locus in common wheat. In the present note, we report the identification of a novel HMW glutenin subunit, Dy13t, from Ae. tauschii. The newly identified subunit possessed an electrophoretic mobility that was faster than that of the Dy12 subunit of common wheat. The complete ORF of encoding the Dy13t subunit contained 624 codons (excluding the stop codons). The amino acid sequence deduced from the Dy13t gene ORF was the shortest among those of the previously reported subunits derived by the D genome. A further comparison of Dy13t amino acid sequence with those of the subunits characterized from the A, B, D, R genomes of Triticeae showed that the smaller size of the Dy13t subunit was associated with a reduction in the size of its repetitive domain.