Low molecular weight glutenin subunits (LWM-GSs) play a crucial role in determining wheat flour processing quality. In this work, 35 novel LMW-GS genes (32 active and three pseudogenes) from three Aegilops umbellulata (2n = 2x = 14, UU) accessions were amplified by allelic-specific PCR. We found that all LMW-GS genes had the same primary structure shared by other known LMW-GSs. Thirty-two active genes encode 31 typical LMW-m-type subunits. The MZ424050 possessed nine cysteine residues with an extra cysteine residue located in the last amino acid residue of the conserved C-terminal III, which could benefit the formation of larger glutenin polymers, and therefore may have positive effects on dough properties. We have found extensive variations which were mainly resulted from single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and insertions and deletions (InDels) among the LMW-GS genes in Ae. umbellulata. Our results demonstrated that Ae. umbellulata is an important source of LMW-GS variants and the potential value of the novel LMW-GS alleles for wheat quality improvement.

We report on combined spectroscopic and photometric observations of EW Lac during its outburst of 1983. At this time the star’s Hα and Hβ lines showed strong doubled-peaked emission profiles which were variable with time. UBV photometry exhibited a long-term and frequent erratic short-term variations. The amplitude of U, B and V variations reached about 0.3 magnitude on October 15, 1983. Both Hβ emission and the structure of the shell absorption lines of the star also displayed anomalous behavior in 1983. It is evident that this star was in a strong active phase at that time.