Effects of Genotype, Season, and Nitrogen Nutrition on Gene Expression and Protein Accumulation in Wheat Grain

Six commercial U.K. cultivars of winter wheat selected to represent different abilities to partition nitrogen into grain protein were grown in replicated field trials at five different sites over three seasons. The proportion of LMW glutenin subunits decreased and the proportion of gliadins increased during grain development and in response to N application. Differences were observed between the proportions of LMW glutenin subunits and gliadins in low- and high-protein grain, these two fractions being decreased and increased, respectively. There was little effect of grain protein content on the proportions of either the HMW glutenin subunits or large glutenin polymers, which are enriched in these subunits, with the latter increasing during development in all cultivars. The proportion of total protein present in polymers in the mature grain decreased with increasing N level. Correlations were also observed between the abundances of gliadin protein transcripts and the corresponding proteins.