Abstract: A total of 306 wheat cultivars and advanced lines from China, US and Australia were screened for the Waxy protein by SDS-PAGE. The results indicated that 46 of these cultivars were the null Wx-B1 type. The proportion of individuals with null Wx-B1 in 120 F2 progenies derived from the Jimai19×Yumai47 was 1/4 approximately, in accordance with the theoretical ratio. Three STS and 1 SSR markers were used to analyze the wheat cultivars with different types of Waxy proteins. Validation of the markers was carried out for the detection of Wx-7A, Wx-4A and Wx-7D genes. The results indicated that a 1172 bp-fragment was amplified with Wx-7A specific STS marker from the wild genotypes, while the fragment was absent for the mutant with null Wx-A1; a 440 bp-fragment was detected with Wx-4A specific STS marker from the wild genotypes, whereas, the fragment was absent for the mutant with null Wx-B1; a 940 bp-fragment was amplified with Wx-7D specific STS marker from the wild genotypes, and a 360 bp-fragment was found for the mutant such as 'Baihuomai' with null Wx-D1; and a 204 bp-fragment was detected with Wx-7D specific SSR marker from the wild genotypes, while the fragment was absent for the mutant with null Wx-D1. These markers are useful tools to identify wheat cultivars with mutant and normal alleles of the Waxy genes in marker-assisted selection of wheat breeding programme.

Key words: Triticum aestivum L., Waxy protein subunit, SDS-PAGE, Molecular marker