Disulphide bonds play a key role in determining the structure and properties of wheat gluten proteins. Comparison of the sequences of monomeric gliadins and polymeric glutenin subunits allows the identification of conserved and variant cysteine residues. Direct disulphide bond determination demonstrates that the conserved cysteine residues present in S-rich prolamins (alpha-type gliadins, gamma-type gliadins and LMW subunits) form intra-chain disulphide bonds while additional cysteines residues present only in the LMW subunits form inter-chain bonds with cysteines in HMW subunits and other LMW subunits. Conserved and variant cysteine residues are also present in the HMW subunits but their patterns of disulphide bond formation are less well understood. Further information on the abilities of individual cysteine residues to form intra- and inter-chain disulphide bonds has also been obtained by heterologous expression of wild type and mutant proteins in E. coli and, in the case of the HMW subunits, by examination of the patterns of dimers recovered on partial reduction of glutenin or resulting from the expression of subunits in transgenic tobacco plants. Wheat gluten proteins are folded and assembled within the lumen of the endoplasmic reticulum of the developing endosperm cells, where disulphide bond formation and exchange may be catalysed by the enzyme protein disulphide isomerase. Similarly, disulphide bond reduction, for example to facilitate mobilisation during germination, may be catalysed by thioredoxin h. Understanding the mechanism and specificity of disulphide bond formation in gluten is crucial for the manipulation of its functional properties by genetic engineering or chemical modification.
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