Relationship to Wheat Quality

A second property of the HMW subunits which could relate to elasticity are the properties of the 3-turn rich spiral supersecondary structure formed by their repetitive domains. It has been suggested that this structure is intrinsically elastic and contributes directly to the elasticity of the glutenin polymers [66]. 

In case of bread wheat, increases in gluten elasticity could be obtained by inserting additional genes for HMW-GS to increase the total amount of HMW subunit protein. In addition, these genes could possibly be mutated to give more subtle differences, due to effects on the cross-linking or other properties of the glutenin polymers. 

It must be point out that wheat gluten is present as a network in dough, where it is intimately associated with other dough components. These interactions are still not completely understood, but there are reported correlations of breadmaking quality with polar lipid content, so lipids are potentially of great importance in modulating the functionaUty of the gluten proteins [39]. 

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