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Rapid Size-Exclusion Chromatography Analysis of Molecular Size Distribution for Wheat Endosperm Protein

¹CSIRO Plant Industry, Grain Quality Research Laboratory, North Ryde, NSW 1670, Australia. ²Quality Wheat CRC Limited, North Ryde, NSW, 1670, Australia. ³Corresponding author. Email: larroque@pi.csiro.au

A quick method for the separation of the main size classes of wheat endosperm proteins using size-exclusion HPLC is presented. Separations achieved in a 10-min run showed high correlation with the reference method of our laboratory (35-min) using the same type of column. The clear separation obtained allows a quick analytical determination of important parameters such as the proportion of the main classes of wheat endosperm protein, the glutenin-to-gliadin ratio, and the percentage of unextractable (SDS-soluble with sonication) polymeric protein, all of which have been closely correlated with breadmaking quality parameters. The improved method offers the advantages of better utilization of valuable resources such as HPLC equipment, quicker analysis of large sample sets, and collection of eluted fractions.