15.2 Individual Constituents 691five times and varies in individual amino acids
(Table 15.18). The balanced Tyr/Phe ratio of the
α-gliadins is based on this domain. Deviating
from theγ-gliadins and the LMW subunits of
glutenin,α-gliadin contains a poly-Gln sequence
between the recurring and low-Pro sequence
segments.
In comparison with theα-gliadins, theγ-gliadins
exhibit higher values for Phe (ca. 5%) and Met
(ca. 1.4%) and lower values for Tyr (ca. 1%) (Ta-
ble 15.15).
The most common N-terminal sequence that
is directly determined or derived from the
nucleic acids is NMQVDPSGQV. Individual
positions are modified, e. g., position 2 with I
(Table 15.16). The recurring sequences consist of
the peptide units PQQPFPQ, in which Q, TQQ,
LQQ or PQQ can be inserted. There are up to 15
repetitions of such peptide units which can vary
in individual residues (Table 15.18). The absence
of Tyr in the recurring sequence segments shifts
the Tyr/Phe ratio to ca. 1.5 (Table 15.15).
TheLMW subunits of glutenindiffer from the
α-andγ-gliadins by having higher values for Ser
(ca. 9%) and lower values for Ala (ca. 2%) and
Asx (ca. 1%). The values for the other amino
acids coincide (Table 15.15).
The N-terminal sequences of the LMW sub-
units were found to be SHIPGL or SCISGL
(s-type) and METSCI or METSHI (m-type).
The known total sequences show that the LMW
subunits of glutenin have typical N-terminal,
C-terminal, Gln-rich and recurring sequence
segments (Table 15.18). The remaining sequence
segments correspond largely to those ofα-and
γ-gliadins. The recurring peptide units usually
consist of the sequence QnPPFS withn= 2 −10.
These units are repeated up to 20 times and
the hydrophobic tripeptide PPF is partly var-
ied (e. g., by PVL, PLP). In comparison with
theα-andγ-gliadins, the high Ser content in
the total composition is due to the recurring
sequences.
15.2.1.4 Structure of Wheat Gluten
15.2.1.4.1 Disulfide Bonds
α-Gliadin andγ-gliadin are mainly monomeric
proteins which, consequently, contain only
intramolecular disulfide bonds. In comparison,
the glutenins are protein aggregates of HMW
and LMW subunits with molar masses from
ca. 200,000 to a few million, which are stabilized
by intermolecular disulfide bonds, hydrophobic
interactions and other forces.
It has been possible to elucidate the position and
type of the disulfide bonds so that the structure
of the gluten proteins is discernible. First,α-glia-
din,γ-gliadin and the LMW subunits will be dis-
cussed based on two complementary schemes.
Figure 15.10 shows the cysteine residues involved
in intra- and intermolecular disulfide bridges. Fig-
ure 15.11 shows the extent of the relationship in
the disulfide structures.
In Fig. 15.10 and Fig. 15.12, the cysteine
residues (C) at the N-terminal of the sequence
are marked with the first letters of the alphabet
and those at the C-terminal with the last letters of
the alphabet. Homologous cysteine residues have
the same letters. Inα-andγ-gliadins, disulfide
bonds are found in segments III–V; in LMW,
also in segment I (Fig. 15.10). Inγ-gliadin, four
intramolecular disulfide bridges are concentrated
in a relatively small sequence section so that
a compact structural element is formed from the
three small rings A, B, C and one large ring D
(Fig. 15.11a). The disulfide structure ofα-gliadin
is related to that ofγ-gliadin. Since the disulfide
bond Cd/Ceis lacking (Fig. 15.10), the small
rings A and B open to give a larger ring AB
(Fig. 15.11b). LMW subunits do contain the
small rings A and B, but since the disulfide bond
Cw/Czis lacking (Fig. 15.10), ring D expands to
give ring CD (Fig. 15.11c).
For steric reasons, the cysteine residues Cb∗and Cx
in the LMW subunits cannot form intramolecu-
lar disulfide bonds, but are available for inter-
molecular disulfide bridges, preferably with other
LMW and HMW subunits (Fig. 15.10).
HMW subunits of the x-type contain four and
those of the y-type contain seven cysteine
residues (Table 15.17). Except for the residue Cy
in the y-type, all the residues are in the segments
A and C (Fig. 15.12). In the x-type, the residues
Ca and Cb form an intramolecular disulfide
bridge (Fig. 15.12) and Cdand Czare available
for intermolecular bonding. The y-type contains
five cysteine residues in segment A and one in
each of the segments B and C (Fig. 15.12). Until
now, intermolecular disulfide bonds to other