High molecular weight (HMW) glutenin subunit composition of some Nordic and Middle European wheats

A collection of 123 winter and 106 spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) cultivars and breeding lines commonly grown in Nordic and Middle European countries were characterised for the composition of high-molecular-weight (HMW) glutenin subunits on the ground of data from literature and experiments of author. HMW glutenin subunit composition was determined by one-dimensional sodium dodecyl sulphate- polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE). The present database includes data for cultivars and breeding lines from Finland (FIN - 56), Estonia (EST - 27), Sweden (SW - 27), Germany (D - 24), Lithuania (LIT - 17), United Kingdom (UK - 6), France (F - 3), Poland (POL - 5), Italy (IT - 7), Netherlands (NL - 6), Norway (NOR - 12), Russian Federation (RUS - 14 items). The occurrence of individual alleles and corresponding HMW glutenin subunits in surveyed cultivars is demonstrated. Special attention has been paid to cultivars growing in neighbouring countries with the aim to apply them in Estonian plant breeding. The database consists of 4 tables with data of HMW glutenin subunits, encoding them Glu-1 alleles, quality score and sources of data. The database could be useful for varietal identification and for plant breeders to improve wheat quality and accelerate the breeding process.