Comparative investigations of gluten proteins from different wheat species

The only commercially available immunoassay for gliadin determination in gluten-free food which has been ring-tested and in use for many years, is a test kit based on monoclonal antibodies against -gliadins. Various studies of the literature have shown that different gliadin standards resulted in different calibration curves, and it has been proposed that the affinity of -gliadins to the monoclonal antibodies varied among wheat varieties. To clarify this fundamental problem, total gliadins and the -gliadins from a winter wheat ("Rektor"), a spring wheat ("CWRS"), a wheat rye hybrid ("Herzog") and varieties of spelt, durum wheat, emmer and einkorn, were isolated and analyzed by means of an enzyme-linked immunoabsorbent assay (ELISA) kit based on antibodies against -gliadins. Additionally, single - and -gliadins of Rektor wheat were studied. The results demonstrated that the calibration curves derived for total gliadins differed, in parts, strongly from that of the kit gliadin standard; only the curves for the durum wheat and spelt gliadins were in congruence with the kit gliadin. Single -gliadins revealed strong differences between and within wheat species and ELISA equivalents had a range from 10 to 220% according to kit gliadin. The affinity of -gliadins was not correlated with the calibration curves of total gliadins. Some of the -gliadins of Rektor wheat showed ELISA equivalents similar to those of -gliadins. Because the proportions of -gliadins in total gliadins were significantly higher than those of -gliadins, the unspecific binding of -gliadins contributed much more to the total affinity of gliadins than the specific binding of -gliadins. -Gliadins, however, did not show any detectable affinity.