Meeting Reports

(Editorial comment)

Dr. K. Takata summarized the meeting report of "the Triticeae Meeting of Japan, 2007" held on November 17 and 18 in Fukuyama, Hiroshima, Japan”. We circulate the abstracts of oral presentations and the titles of poster presentations as edited by Dr. Takata.

The Triticeae Meeting of Japan, 2007

Kanenori Takata

Bread Wheat Research Team, National Agricultural Research Center for Western Region (WeNARC), Nishifukatsu 1-16-2, Fukuyama, Hiroshima, 721-8514, Japan

e-mail: takata@affrc.go.jp

The Second Triticeae Meeting of Japan was held at WeNARC, Fukuyama on November 17 and 18, 2007. Eighty-two researchers including students from universities and institutes participated in the meeting (Fig. 1). We had twelve oral and 40 poster presentations. The abstracts and poster titles are listed below. The following fields relating Triticeae were presented; molecular biology, genomics, molecular cytogenetics, physiology, genecology, evolution, cereal science, breeding and activities to promote the local wheat production for local consumption. Young researchers had a good opportunity to know a wide field of research. The meeting was a great success with active and fruitful discussion. Next meeting will be held at Okayama University in December 2008. We thanked participants to join the meeting.

ABSTRACTS & TITLES

Oral Presentation

O1. Analysis of gluten proteins for improvement of Japanese wheat quality.

Kanenori Takata

Bread Wheat Research Team, National Agricultural Research Center for Western Region, Nishifukatsu 1-16-2, Fukuyama, Hiroshima, 721-8514, Japan

Wheat breeding for bread-making has been conducted actively from 1990s. Ten wheat varieties for bread released for the last decade in Japan. We studied relationships between high molecular weight glutenin subunits (HMW-GS) and bread-making quality. Subunits 5+10 encoded by Glu-D1d was associated with a good bread-making quality. Subunits 2.2+12 encoded by Glu-D1f, which were found in many Japanese wheat varieties, was associated with a weak dough property. We revealed that the effects of combinations among Glu-1 loci on physical dough property using near isogenic lines. Two combinations of Glu-A1c / Glu-D1f and Glu-B1e / Glu-B1f especially showed large negative effects on dough strength. We also studied low molecular weight glutenin subunits (LMW-GS) by two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, which is a powerful tool to decide of LMW-GS genotypes. Subunits encoded by Glu-B3g were associated with overly strong dough property on bread-making. Moreover we found that the subunits encoded by Glu-B3g improved white salty noodle quality, especially a handling during noodle making. Although gliadins have been disregard in our breeding program, we have recently found that the quantity of gliadins also affect on physical dough property. To improve the dough property, we need to consider the effects of these gluten proteins and interactions among them. We have developed PCR-makers to select them to accelerate our breeding programs. The varieties with better gluten properties are expected to be released in the next decade.

O2. Improvement of wheat transformation and use for functional genomics.

Taiichi Ogawa, Hiroyuki Kawahigashi and Hirokazu Handa

Plant Genome Research Unit, National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences, Kan-non-dai 2-1-2, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8602, Japan

Isolation of agriculturally important genes has been accelerated in wheat by development of comparative genomics. Genetic transformation of wheat is considered to be a necessary tool for the determination of gene functions. However, the ability to transform wheat is currently restricted to a few laboratories in Japan. We directly introduced the protocol of wheat transformation using a particle bombardment method from International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center. In this seminar, we presented the outline of this protocol and discussed factors affecting transformation efficiencies. We produced the transformed wheats constitutively expressing WFT gene, which is involved in flowering process, by the particle bombardment method. Using WFT transformants, we have obtained valuable information to understand gene network involved in flowering process in wheat. In order to improve transformation efficiency, we established a transformation method using a mutated rice acetolactate synthase gene as a new selection marker. We presented this new selection system for wheat transformation in this seminar.

O3. Identification of tolerant genes related to mineral stress in barley.

Jian Feng Ma

Research Institute for Bioresources, Okayama University, Chuo 2-20-1, Kurashiki, Japan

Barley is cultivated widely in the world and has developed strategies to overcome various stresses. In terms of mineral stress, barley is characterized by high tolerance to Fe deficiency and low tolerance to Al toxicity. Barley secretes phytosiderophores (mugineic acids) from the roots in response to Fe-deficiency and then takes up Fe in the form of Fe(III)-phytosiderophore complex. We have cloned a gene encoding a transporter (HvYS1) for this complex. HvYS1 gene was mainly expressed in the roots and the expression was enhanced under Fe-deficiency. In situ hybridization and immunostaining revealed that HvYS1 was localized at epidermal cells of roots. Furthermore, HvYS1 showed strict specificity for both metals and ligands.

On the other hand, although barley is an Al-sensitive species, there is a large genotypic variation in Al tolerance between cultivars. Secretion of citrate has been associated with Al tolerance in barley. We identified a gene (HvAACT1) responsible for the Al-activated citrate secretion by fine mapping combined with microarray analysis, using Al-tolerant cultivar, Murasakimochi and Al-sensitive cultivar, Morex. This gene was constitutively expressed mainly in the roots of Al tolerant barley cultivar.  Heterologous expression of HvAACT1 in Xenopus oocytes showed efflux activity for citrate, but not for malate. Over-expression of this gene in tobacco enhanced citrate secretion and Al resistancecompared to the wild type plants. HvAACT1 was localized at the plasma membrane of the epidermal cells in the barley root tips. A good correlation was found between the expression of HvAACT1 and citrate secretion in 10 barley cultivars differing in Al resistance, suggesting that high expression of this gene is required for Al tolerance.

O4. Production and characterization of TILLING lines in Chinese Spring wheat.

Takehiro Imai¹, Kanako Kawaura¹, Masayuki Isshiki¹, Keiichi Mochida², Shuhei Nasuda³, Kazuo Shinozaki² and Yasunari Ogihara¹

¹: Kihara Institute for Biological Research, Yokohama City University

²: RIKEN Plant Science Center

³: Graduate School of Agriculture, Kyoto University

TILLING (Targeting Induced Local Lesions In Genomes) is conveniently used for reverse genetic method. Mutated lines were usually produced with the chemical mutagenesis such as EMS, and mutated points were possibly detected by the PCR-based screening. In order to carry out reverse genetics in hexaploid wheat, we tried to produce TILLING lines of Chinese Spring wheat by the EMS treatment.

Seeds were treated with EMS, grown as M₁ plants and self-pollinate to establish M₂ lines. M₂ seeds (3307 lines) were sowed and self-pollinated (as M₃ seeds). Out of 2430 M₂ lines sowed in the last season, 2243 plants were grown in the field (92%) to check their phenotypes. Approximately 10% of M₂ plants showed mutated phenotypes. The observed phenotypes were speltoid and compactoid phenotypes of spike, awn in spike, bush, abnormal phenotype, decreasing number of tillers in plant form, striped, variegated or rolled leaves, and lesion mimic. These observations suggested that the TILLING lines harbored a number of mutations in wheat genes. To estimate mutation rate in the wheat TILLING lines, we investigated the waxy locus in the D genome. We screened the mutated genes in Wx-D1 locus located on the 7D from the pooled M₂ lines with the SURVEYOR method. We identified 10 mutated lines in 444 lines examined, suggesting that total TILLING lines include approximately 80 mutated lines in the Wx-D1 region. TILLING lines were estimated to contain a mutation per every 40kbp in the D genome. We are going to test mutation rates for other genomes and other genes.

O5. Cultivation and utilization of Triticum aestivum ssp. spelta (L.) Thell. in central Europe.

Naoki Mori¹ and Shoji Ohta²

¹: Laboratory of Plant Genetics, Graduate School of Agricultural Science, Kobe University, Nada-ku, Kobe 657-8501, Japan

²: Department of Bioscience, Fukui Prefectural University, Eiheiji-cho, Fukui 910-1195, Japan

Common wheat (Triticum aestivum L., 2n=6x=42) is classified into six subspecies, i.e., ssp. aestivum (L.) Thell., ssp. compactum (Host.) Mac Key, ssp. sphaerococcum (Perc.) Mac Key, ssp. macha (Dekapr. & Menabde) Mac Key, ssp. spelta (L.) Thell. and ssp. vavilovii (Jakubz.) A. Love, all of which are cultivated forms (Mac Key 1966). Among them, ssp. aestivum represents the most common and widely cultivated bread wheat. Two subspecies compactum and sphaerococcum are other free-threshing forms (non-hulled or naked) of common wheat. Three subspecies macha, spelta and vavilovii, are all non-free-threshing (hulled) and thus seemingly primitive types of common wheat. Current cultivation of ssp. spelta can be seen locally in central Europe, northern Spain and western Iran, while ssp. macha is endemic in Transcaucasia. In 1997 we participated in the field expedition conducted by Gifu University (The Gifu University Science Exploration in the Mediterranean Region in 1997, GSEM97), and visited central Europe for studying the cultivation and utilization of hulled wheat. In the present meeting, an endemic cultivation and a traditional usage (production of Grünkern) of ssp. spelta in southern Germany was reported. In addition, the cultivation of ssp. spelta in Switzerland and Austria was also briefly reported.

O6. Homoeologous gene-specific regulation of MADS-box genes in polyploid wheat.

Naoki Shitsukawa and Koji Murai

Department of Bioscience, Fukui Prefectural University, Eiheiji-cho, Fukui 910-1195, Japan

Flower development has been the subject of intensive study over the last decade, particularly in two dicot species, Arabidopsis and Antirrhinum and these studies led to the description of the ABCDE model. All genes involved in this model, except for APETALA2, belong to MADS-box gene family that encode MADS-box transcription factor. A recent study of the ABCDE genes in monocot species, such as rice (Oryza sativa), suggests that this model could essentially be extended to monocots, except for the role of the class A genes. Bread wheat is a hexaploid species with A, B, and D genomes derived from the ancestral diploid species. Accordingly, floral organ MADS-box genes may present as triplicated homoeologous genes (homoeologs). To clarify the relevance of homoeologs in flower formation, we analyzed gene structure, expression patterns, and protein functions in the wheat MADS-box genes.

There are two class E genes, wheat SEPALLATA (WSEP) and wheat Leafy Hull Sterile1 (WLHS1). The homoeologs of WSEP showed similar genomic structures and expression profiles. By contrast, the three homoeologs of WLHS1 showed genetic and epigenetic alterations. The A genome WLHS1 homoeolog (WLHS1-A) had a structural alteration that contained a large novel sequence of the K domain sequence. By comparing the structure of WLHS1-A locus in diploid, tetraploid, and hexaploid species of Triticum, only tetraploid wheat T. dicoccum and some of the hexaploid wheat carried the variant WLHS1-A. These findings indicate that the sequence change in WLHS1-A occurred in a lineage of T. dicoccum and that hexaploid species originated on multiple occasions from the domesticated tetraploid species and Ae. tauschii. Furthermore, the B genome homoeolog, WLHS1-B was predominantly silenced by cytosine methylation. Epigenetic silencing in WLHS1-B is reversible regulation, thus using WLHS1-B as a model system we will gain further insight the molecular mechanism of the effect of interaction between homoeologous genes during allopolyploidization.

O7. Structure of centromeric regions of barley as revealed by molecular cytogenetic analyses.

Shuhei Nasuda

Laboratory of Plant Genetics, Graduate School of Agriculture, Kyoto University

A decade has passed since scientists started to characterize in detail the structures of plant centromeres. Plant centromeres, as well as animal centromeres, are large in size and complex in their constitutions. Although the functions of centromeres are conserved, their nucleotide sequences are diverged. The structural similarity among centromeres from different taxonomic groups is that the centromeric regions are rich in satellite repeats and centromere-specific retrotransposons. Barley centromeres also possess a satellite repeat ‘(AGGGAG)n’ and a centromeric Ty3/gypsy retrotransposon ‘cereba’. Our chromatin immunoprecipitation experiments showed that CENH3 protein interact with both (AGGGAG)n satellite and cereba. There was no significant difference between affinity of CENH3 to (AGGGAG)n satellite and that to cereba. These results indicated both (AGGGAG)n satellite and cereba are key sequences that form normal barley centromeres.

Barley chromosomes introduced to wheat background is a good material to study barley centromere structures, because barley chromosome is dispensable and could be modified by biotic and abiotic methods. We found barley telosomes 7HS* and 7HS** that does not have centromeric repetitive sequences. These chromosomes are transmitted normally in mitosis and meiosis, indicating the presence of fully functional centromeres. The origin of the centromeres on the 7HS* and 7HS** chromosomes remains to be elucidated. First, the hypothesis that normal 7H chromosome has kinetochore in the pericentromeric region of its short arm was ruled out by direct visualization of the position of spindle-attachment. Fine deletion mapping of barley ESTs revealed that telosomes 7HS* and 7HS** were derived from multiple rearrangements. The 7HS* and 7HS** chromosomes retains an EST sequence whose homologue can be found in functional centromere on rice chromosome 8. We are currently testing the ‘epigenetic modification’ hypothesis that centromeres of 7HS* and 7HS** have been established through expansion of centromeric chromatin from the chromosome region carrying the EST sequence to its vicinities.

O8. Functional analysis of a barley specific protein P23k by virus-induced gene silencing.

Shin-ichiro Kidou

Cryobiosystem Research Center, Faculty of Agriculture, Iwate University, Morioka, Iwate, 020-8550 Japan

P23k is a monocot-unique protein that is highly expressed in the scutellum of germinating barley seed. Our expression analyses in barley seed have suggested that P23k is involved in sugar translocation and/or sugar metabolism. However, the role of P23k in barley physiology remains unclear. To gain a better understanding of P23k, a loss of function analysis of P23k in barley is required. Virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) has recently been developed as an mRNA suppression technique to characterize the function of plant genes, and some silencing of pathogen-related genes were reported in barley and wheat. In the present study, we used Barley striped mosaic virus (BSMV)-basedVIGS technique to analyze the function of P23k. VIGS of the P23k gene led to abnormal leaf development such as asymmetric orientation of main veins and cracked leaf edges caused by mechanical weakness. Expression analysis of P23k mRNA showed the localization of their transcripts to the vascular bundles and sclerenchyma, where secondary wall formation is most active. In addition, histochemical analyses indicated that the distribution of P23k in leaves coincides with the distribution of cell wall polysaccharides. Considering these results together, it is proposed that P23k is involved in the synthesis of cell wall polysaccharides and contributes to secondary wall formation in barley leaves.

O9. Genetics of microstructure of wheat seed and food products. - DNA tells everything? -

Tatsuya M. Ikeda

Bread Wheat Research Team, National Agricultural Research Center for Western Region (WeNARC), 6-12-1 Nishifukatsu, Fukuyama, Hiroshima, 721-8514, Japan

In contrast to a recent drastic increase of gene sequence information in wheat and barley, our knowledge of their various phenotypes has not expanded as well. For example, wheat breeders have been seeking to improve milling efficiency, however the milling efficiency is a complex characteristics related to the amounts of large and small bran consisting of outer layers, aleurone layer and endosperm. Few studies revealed the genetic control of factors involved in these characters. Based on a study on microstructure of wheat seed sections by a scanning electron microscopy and fluorescence microscopy, we found variations on the thickness of the outer layer and cell walls in the endosperm among cultivars. Cultivars showing good milling efficiency had thinner outer layers and very thin cell walls in the central part of the endosperm. These characters seem to be controlled by genes related to cell wall synthesis. To understand relationships of genes with various phenotypes of wheat and barley, we also need to study these phenotypes in microstructural level.

O10. The analysis of proteins related to beer brewing.

Takashi Iimure

Bioresources Research and Development Department, Sapporo Breweries Ltd., 37-1, Nittakizaki, Ota, Gunma 370-0393, Japan.

Proteins have important roles in each brewing process. However, there is little information on the relationship between individual protein species and beer quality except for a few findings such as beer foam stability and haze formation. In this study, we analyzed and identified beer proteins using two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2DE) and mass spectrometry. To identify protein species, we used both disclosed databases such as NCBI-nr and HarvEST unigene, and novel databases containing barley cDNA and EST sequences constructed by Okayama University. As a result, we constructed a novel beer proteome database containing 22 protein species from barley and 2 protein species from yeast. Using this proteome database, we compared the 2DE patterns of the beer proteins among 7 malt cultivars. In consequence, we revealed that spot intensity of several proteins were different between malt cultivars. Moreover, we analyzed beer and haze proteins using 2DE. As a result, we identified barley dimeric alpha-amylase inhibitor (BDAI-I) as one of foam-promoting proteins, and BDAI-I and CMb component of tetrameric alpha- amylase inhibitor (CMb) as one of haze-active proteins. It is suggested that we could apply these results to barley breeding and process control of beer brewing to optimize/improve beer foam stability and haze formation.

O11. Genetic improvement for seed composition and quality in hull-less barley breeding.

Takashi Yanagisawa

Barley Research Team, National Agricultural Research Station for Western Region, 1-3-1, Senyu, Zentsuji, Kagawa 765-8508, Japan

Hull-less barley has been used for foods such as miso and boiled pearled barley in Japan. Breeding efforts for genetic improvement for seed composition and quality have done in hull-less barley. The high whiteness of pearled grain is important purpose in our breeding program.

Modern and agriculturally improved hull-less waxy barley cultivar "Daishimochi," was developed using indigenous hull-less waxy barley. The flour of "Daishimochi" and wheat flour mixtures are used for making bread, biscuits, cake, and noodles. In contrast to other cereals, indigenous waxy barley lines have storage starch containing 2-10% amylose. Amylose-free hull-less waxy mutant was induced by chemical mutagen and agriculturally improved high yielding line was recently tested in the performance test for recommended variety. The waxy phenotype produces a stickiness of texture most of Japanese prefer, so the potential uses of waxy barley is expected to expand.

Barley is susceptible to a browning reaction after heating and browning reaction is correlated to its polyphenol content. Proanthocyanidin is a kind of polyphenol, so proanthocyanidin-free mutants were useful to reduce the browning reaction in boiled pearled barley. Proanthocyanidin-free (ant13, ant28) hull-less barley were recently tested in the performance test for recommended variety. 

(1,3) (1,4)-β-D-glucan (beta-glucan) is major components of polysaccharides in cell walls of barley endosperm. Beta-glucan is dietary fiber, is favorable for human foods because it lowers cholesterol. Waxy barley has higher concentration of beta-glucan, but takes longer pearling time than non-waxy barley. Beta-glucan content is correlated to the hardness of kernel in barley.

Recently whole barley grain barley and certain dry milled barley grain products are appropriate sources of beta-glucan soluble fiber for the health claim in USA, so barley has the possibility of the functional foods. The uses of improved barley varieties for seed composition and quality will be expanded.

O12. The action from growing wheat to baking bread by citizen, which grow their love toward their local cultivar.

Tadashi Takahashi

Faculty of Agriculture, Yamaguchi University

Yamaguchi Prefecture’s government drives its citizen to a consumer behavior “Chisan Chisho.” The Chisan Chisho means that the citizen consumes the local products produced in the neighborhood. The wheat grains harvested in the neighborhood are milled into flour at the neighbor factory, and then the flour is made into bread at the neighbor bakery. That is the Chisan Chisho for wheat. At 2003 the government selected a wheat cultivar “Nishinokaori” for Chisan Chisho bread in Yamaguchi. Then it has made brochures, has carried out some projects and has taken some presentations to have its citizen know the “Nishinokaori”. At the same time, the citizen also opened the Wheat-Bread Associates to take action for Chisan Chisho by themselves. A member of the associates talks about wheat and bread to each other through E-mail. In addition they grow wheat in the local field at Mistuo Shunan. They also mill their own flour from their wheat product and bake bread from their flour. The Yamaguchi citizen has been getting to love “Nishinokaori” as their own cultivar throughout the government’s and the citizen’s action. Now, the associate member is planning to have the wheat farmers sell their flour to the Yamaguchi citizen. The flour is packed into small bag, 200g for one time use, by farmers. They expect more citizen to love Nishinokaori through making bread from the flour by themselves.

Poster Presentation

P1. Kouyama, S., K. Kawaura, Y. Ogihara (Kihara Inst. Biol. Res., Yokohama City U.) Analyses of global gene expression patterns in wheat through the allopolyploidization.

P2. Mizuno, N., S. Takumi (Lab. Plant Genet., Grad. Sch. Agr. Sci., Kobe Univ.) cDNA-AFLP analysis of seedling leaves in synthetic hexaploid wheat.

P3. Yasumoro, M., K. Kawaura, Y. Ogihara (Kihara Inst. Biol. Res., Yokohama City U.) Molecular study on regulation systems of gene expression in hexaploid wheat.

P4. Siniauskaya, M. G., C. Nakamura (Lab. Plant Genet., Grad. Sch. Agr. Sci., Kobe Univ.) The development of chloroplast macroarray system in wheat.

P5. Nankaku, N.¹, T. Iimure², K. Sato¹ (1. Research Institute for Bioresources, Okayama Univ., 2. Sapporo Brewery Ltd.) Establishment of proteomics analysis system in barley.

P6. Takaku, M., T. Imai, K. Kawaura, M. Isshiki, Y. Ogihara (Kihara Inst. Biol. Res., Yokohama City U.) Variation of the spike morphology in TILLING lines of common wheat.

P7. Kawaura, K., M. Isshiki, Y. Ogihara (Kihara Inst. Biol. Res., Yokohama City U.) Expression analysis of APETALA2 (AP2)-like genes in hexaploid wheat.

P8. Kitagawa, S., K. Murai (Dept. Biosci., Fukui Pref. Univ.) Comparative analysis of two CONSTANS-like genes in wheat.

P9. Zhu, Y., K. Murai (Dept. Biosci., Fukui Pref. Univ.) ORF260, a candidate of pistillody-related mitochondrial gene in alloplasmic wheat.

P10. Kinjyo, H., K. Murai (Dept. Biosci., Fukui Pref. Univ.) Comparative analysis of three APETALA1/FLUITFULL-like genes in wheat.

P11. Suzuki, T., K. Murai (Dept. Biosci., Fukui Pref. Univ.) A triangle model of WAP1-WFT-VRN2 for flowering in wheat.

P12. Nishizawa, S., K. Murai (Dept. Biosci., Fukui Pref. Univ.) Identification of wheat homolog of UNUSUAL FLORAL ORGAN (UFO)-like gene.

P13. Hatano, H., S. Takumi (Lab. Plant Genet., Grad. Sch. Agr. Sci., Kobe Univ.) cDNA-AFLP analysis of pistil-like structures in alloplasmic wheat.

P14. Taniguchi, K., A. Horikawa, T. Terachi (Fac. Eng., Kyoto Sangyo U.) Proteomic analysis of alloplasmic wheat with Ae. mutica cytoplasm.

P15. Nakanishi K., K. Taniguchi, A. Horikawa, T. Terachi (Fac. Eng., Kyoto Sangyo U.) Analysis of specific mitochondrial genes on alloplasmic wheat with Ae. mutica cytoplasm.

P16. Kishii, M.¹, T. Ban^1,2, G.V. Subbarao¹, H. Tsujimoto³, M. Iwanaga⁴ (1. CIMMYT, 2. Kihara Inst. Biol. Res., Yokohama City U., 3. JIRCAS, 4. Fac. Agr., Tottori Univ.) Wheat wild relatives Leymus racemosus could boost nitrogen use efficiency of wheat with Biological Nitrification Inhibition (BNI).

P17. Mishina, K.¹, T. Koba² (1. Grad. Sch. Sci. Technol., Chiba Univ., 2. Grad. Sch. Horticulture, Chiba Univ.) Observation of pollen tube elongation in relation to the crossability of common wheat with rye.

P18.Ueda, T., S. Kikuchi, H. Elamein, H. Tanaka, H. Tsujimoto (Fac. Agr., Tottori U.) The effect of chemical treatments on the chromosome elimination in super-wide hybrids in wheat.

P19. Sakuma, S., T. Koba (Lab. Genet. Plant Breed., Grad. Sch. Horticulture, Chiba Univ.)Variation in crossability of tetraploid wheat with rye.

P20. Nishinaka, M.¹, M. Kato¹, Y. Okumoto¹, K. Kato², T. Tanisaka¹ (1. Lab. Plant Breed., Grad. Sch. Agr., Kyoto Univ., 2. Fac. Agr., Okayama Univ.)Diversity and distribution of High-Molecular-Weight glutenin subunits in Asian wheat.

P21. Terasawa, Y.¹, K. Takata², T. Ban¹, T. Sasanuma¹ (1. Kihara Inst. Biol. Res., Yokohama City U., 2. Natl. Agr. Res. Cent. Western Region) Genetic diversity of wheat landraces in Tibet.

P22. Kato, M.¹, Y. Okumoto¹, M. Nishinaka¹, K. Kato² (1. Lab. Plant Breed., Grad. Sch. Agr., Kyoto Univ., 2. Fac. Agr., Okayama Univ.) The diversity of the Low Molecular Weight Glutenin Subunits in Asian wheat and their effects on SDS sedimentation volumes.

P23. Ohmichi, Y., N. Mori (Lab. Plant Genet., Grad. Sch. Agr. Sci., Kobe Univ.) Molecular variation in mitochondrial DNA SSRs in ancestral species of wheat.

P24.Takumi, S. (Lab. Plant Genet., Grad. Sch. Agr. Sci., Kobe Univ.) Identification of hexaploid wheat accessions with a null allele of Wknox1b: Implication to speciation of Triticum carthlicum.

P25. Manickavelu, A., K. Kawaura, H. Imamura, M. Mori, Y. Ogihara (Kihara Inst. Biol. Res., Yokohama City U.) Construction of genetic linkage map for Chinese Spring x Spelta population of common wheat using SSR markers.

P26. Fujita, Y.¹, H. Fukuoka², H. Yano¹ (1. Natl. Agr. Res. Cent. Western Region, 2. NIVTS) Identification of wheat cultivars in wheat food products using SSR markers.

P27. Manangkil, O.E.¹, N. Mori¹, H. T. T. Vu¹, T. Ishii², S. Yoshida¹, C. Nakamura¹ (1. Lab. Plant Genet., Grad. Sch. Agr. Sci., Kobe Univ., 2. Lab. Plant Breed., Grad. Sch. Agr. Sci., Kobe Univ., 3. Hyogo Pref. Inst. Agr.) QTLs controlling seedling-vigor at germination stage under submergence in rice.

P28. Hoshikawa, A., K. Kawaura, Y. Ogihara (Kihara Inst. Biol. Res., Yokohama City U.) Functional analysis of wheat transcription factors in response to salt stress.

P29. Terashima, A., S. Takumi (Lab. Plant Genet., Grad. Sch. Agr. Sci., Kobe Univ.) Nucleotide diversity of drought-responsive genes in Aegilops tauschii.

P30. Hatta, K., S. Oda, M. Fujita (Natl. Agr. Res. Cent. Kyushu and Okinawa region) Screening of the resistant wheat varieties (Triticum aestivum L.) to Wheat Yellow Mosaic Virus (WYMV) isolate newly found at Kyushu region in Japan.

P31. Kubo, K., N. Kawada, K. Hatta, M. Fujita, S. Oda (Natl. Agr. Res. Cent. Kyushu and Okinawa region) Evaluation of resistance to spread of Fusarium head blight in wheat by degree of rachilla and rachis browning.

P32. Mizukami, M., K. Murai (Dept. Biosci., Fukui Pref. Univ.) Genetic and molecular mechanism of heading in extra early-heading wheat varieties.

P33. Okumura, Y., S. Takumi (Lab. Plant Genet., Grad. Sch. Agr. Sci., Kobe Univ.) Nucleotide diversity of photoperiod sensitivity-related genes in Aegilops tauschii.

P34. Garg, M.¹, H. Tanaka¹, N. Ishikawa², K. Takata², M. Yanaka², H. Tsujimoto¹ (1. Fac. Agr., Tottori U., 2. Natl. Agr. Res. Cent. Western Region) Seed storage proteins in Triticeae: a novel source of variation for improvement of wheat flour quality.

P35. Saito, M., M. Isshiki, K. Kawaura, Y. Ogihara (Kihara Inst. Biol. Res., Yokohama City U.) Molecular analyses of seed storage proteins in bread wheat.

P36. Araki, E.¹, T. M. Ikeda¹, Y. Ogihara², A. Toyoda³, H. Yano¹ (1. Natl. Agr. Res. Cent. Western Region, 2. Kihara Inst. Biol. Res., Yokohama City U., 3. RIKEN) Development of transgenic rice expressing wheat high- and low-molecular-weight glutenin subunit proteins.

P37. Tanaka, H., H. Tsujimoto (Fac. Agr., Tottori U.) Group-1 chromosome deletions affect on dough strength in common wheat.

P38.Yanaka, M., K. Takata, N. Ishikawa, T. M. Ikeda (Natl. Agr. Res. Cent. Western Region) Relationship between endosperm cell wall thickness and milling efficiency in wheat.

P39. Tonooka, T., E. Aoki, T. Yoshioka (Natl. Inst. Crop Sci., NARO) Development of proanthocyanidin-free NILs in barley.

P40. Takahashi, A., T. M. Ikeda , T. Takayama , T. Yanagisawa (Natl. Agr. Res. Cent. Western Region) Analysis of grain-hardness related hordoindolines in barley. -Grain-hardness of in segregating population with the differences of the number of HINB-