Genetic variability for waxy genes in Argentinean bread wheat germplasm

Amylose and amylopectin are the two polysaccharides that constitute starch in bread wheat and the enzyme GBSSI (Granule-bound starch synthase I), also known as waxy protein, is responsible for amylose synthesis in storage tissues. Decrease of the amylose content in starch has been associated with the lack of waxy protein(s). In this work, different sets of PCR markers were used to characterize the genetic variability of waxy loci from 103 Argentinean bread wheat cultivars. For the Wx-A1 locus, Wx-A1a and a novel molecular allele designed Wx-A1g were detected. Wx-B1 locus showed three alleles (Wx-B1a, Wx-B1b, Wx-B1e), and Wx-D1 locus showed only the Wx-D1a allele. Novel single-locus allele specific markers for Wx-A1b, Wx-B1b and Wx- D1b null alleles were also described. To our best knowledge this is the first study focused to characterize the genetic variability for waxy genes in bread wheat cultivars from South America.