[Characteristics of alpha-amylase isozymes in cytologenetically different wheat cultivars]

The isoenzyme composition of alpha-amylase is studied by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis in Tris-glycine (pH 8.3) system in wheat cultivars with different genome composition. We show that durum wheat (Triticum durum, 2n=4x=28, BBAA) lacks the isoenzymes encoded by 6D and 7D chromosomes that are present in common wheat zymograms (Triticum aestivum, 2n=6x=42, BBAADD). A similar pattern is observed in a synthetic allohexaploid carrying the BBAA genomes of wheat and the HchHch genome of barley (Hordeum chilense). Our method of electrophoresis fails to reveal additional variants of alpha-amylase encoded by the barley genome, although C-banding analysis confirms the genomic structure BBAAHChHCh of this allopolyploid. The electrophoretic spectrum of the spring common wheat cultivar Dobrynya with the wheat-Agropyron translocation 7DL-7AiL contains all of the alpha-amylase isoenzymes typical for common wheat (2n=6x=42, BBAADD) except for the zymotype encoded by the long arm of chromosome 7D. This observation confirms the results of cytogenetic analysis that identified a 7DL-7AiL translocation in this cultivar. No additional alpha-amylase isoenzymes encoded by Agropyron chromosome have been observed. Our data indicate that analysis of wheat-alien hybrids or introgressive forms should be carried out using a complex of different methods.