Five winter wheat cultivars-GK Öthalom (HMW-
GS composition 2*, 7+8, 5+10), Ukrainka (1, 7+8,5+10), Palot
s (2*, 7+9, 5+10), Ködmön (2*, 7+8, 5+10), and Csongr
d (2*, 7+9, 2+12)-grownin Hungary and harvested in the year 2005 were studied. The biosynthesis of gluten-formingpolypeptides was followed starting at the 12th day after anthesis to the 53rd. Fresh kernel weight,moisture, and dry matter content of fresh kernels and gliadin and glutenin contents were determined.Gliadin components, total amounts of HMW and
LMW polypeptides, and individual HMW polypeptideswere determined using a RP-HPLC technique. Although considerable quantitative differences wereobserved concerning the content of total protein, gliadin, glutenin, and individual gluten-formingpolypeptides, the character of accumulation of protein components-determined on the basis proteinmass/kernel-was the same for the all of the cultivars studied and could be presented by a sigmoidcurve. Small quantities of the gliadin and glutenin monomers may be detected in early stages ofkernel development, but the bulk of these proteins is synthesized in later stages of development. Itis generally suggested by specialists that the formation and accumulation of glutenin polymers startslater than the synthesis of monomers. Experimental data presented in this paper confirm thissuggestion and show that in the first phase of protein synthesis the monomers are in "free" form;polymeric glutenin is detected only later. HMW glutenin subunits are synthesized synchronously,and quantitatively the polypeptides coded by chromosomes D and B dominate.