Genotypes of common wheat cultivars Bred in south Ukraine can be easily distinguished from any other wheat genotypes

There is a huge polymorphism in wheat grain storage protein, gliadin. The currently known number of gliadin-encoding loci (Gli) and their allelic variants (genetic markers) allows, theoretically, to distinguish more than one billion (109) of wheat homozygous genotypes differing among them at least at one Gli locus. It was discovered that most genotypes of common wheat cultivars bred and grown in the south of Ukraine contain the unique combination of two genetic markers, Gli-A2f + Gli-B2o. This allelic combination occurred in a few genotypes of cultivars bred in regions of Russia geographically close to South Ukraine and nowhere else in the world. The two markers can be easily identified using any modification of the simple method of acid electrophoresis (APAGE) widely-used for analysis of gliadin polymorphism. [Display omitted] •Genotypes of Ukrainian and Russian wheat differ strongly.•The high frequency of the combination Gli-A2f + Gli-B2o occurs in the Ukrainian wheat, and nowhere else in the world.•Gliadin alleles could be used as forensic evidence of Ukrainian origin.