Changes in urea‐dispersibility of proteins during maturation

The quantity of proteins involved in gluten formation in wheat harvested at various stages of development of the grain was inversely related to absorbence at 280 mμ of 3 M ‐urea extracts. The amount of protein, as determined by the biuret procedure, in the 3·0 M ‐urea extracts did not change during maturation. Thus the decreasing absorbence (280 mμ) with increasing maturity between 27 to 17 days pre‐ripe seems to indicate a gradual increase in molecular weight and complexity of the synthesised proteins. The changes in formation of gluten proteins were accompanied by a decrease in water‐ and salt‐dispersible proteins, and paralleled improvement in bread‐making properties of the flours.