Abstract
Intrinsic viscosities of glutenins contained in various wheat flours were determined in 6.5 M guanidine hydrochloride to investigate the correlation between the property of flour and the size and shape of glutenin molecules. The ratios of the contents of gliadin and glutenin determined by gel filtration were slightly different among the flours examined and the mean ratio was 41 : 59. No correlation was observed between the ratios and the properties of the flours. The intrinsic viscosity of glutenin was obtained by calculation from the intrinsic viscosities of gluten and gliadin. The intrinsic viscosity of gluten was determined to be about 0.7 dl/g with some differences depending on the flours, but that of gliadin gave nearly the same value of 0.2 dl/g for all the flours used. The intrinsic viscosities of glutenin calculated were in the range of 0.95 to 1.14 dl/g and were somewhat different among the flours. However, the expected correlation between the intrinsic viscosity of glutenin and the property of flour was not found. Therefore, there must be other factors affecting the quality of protein more strongly than the size and shape of glutenin.
