In cereal crops, starch synthesis and storage depend mainly on a specialized class of plastids, termed amyloplasts. Despite the importance of starch, the molecular machinery regulating starch synthesis and amyloplast development remains largely unknown. Here, we report the characterization of the rice (Oryza sativa) floury endosperm7 (flo7) mutant, which develops a floury-white endosperm only i...

The effects of eight diets (atta flour, wheat flour, self-rising flour, rice flour, custard powder, corn flour, tapioca starch, and potato starch) on the development of the red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum (Herbst), reared at 29-31 degrees C and 66-70% RH were assessed. Five pairs of male and female T. castaneum were reared on the respective diets for 28 d before the experimental setup was...

In the food industry, research into the characteristics of microwave-heated materials has focused on dielectric properties. However, the lack of studies on microwave-absorbing properties has hindered the application of microwave technology. The aim of the present study was to investigate the microwave-absorbing properties of rice starch. It should be noted that this was the first time that the ...

Acute oral consumption of various natural inhibitors of amylase (bean and hibiscus extracts) and sucrase (L-arabinose) reduce absorption of starch and sucrose respectively in rats and pigs measured by lessened appearance of circulating glucose levels. The present subchronic study was designed to determine whether these selected inhibitors of gastrointestinal starch and sucrose absorption (so-ca...

Starch synthase (SS) I and IIIa are the first and second largest components of total soluble SS activity, respectively, in developing japonica rice (Oryza sativa L.) endosperm. To elucidate the distinct and overlapping functions of these enzymes, double mutants were created by crossing the ss1 null mutant with the ss3a null mutant. In the F(2) generation, two opaque seed types were found to hav...

Cereals high in amylose content (AC) and resistant starch (RS) offer potential health benefits. Previous studies using chemical mutagenesis or RNA interference have demonstrated that starch branching enzyme (SBE) plays a major role in determining the fine structure and physical properties of starch. However, it remains a challenge to control starch branching in commercial lines. Here, we use CR...

Later-flowering spikelets in a rice panicle, referred to as the inferior spikelets, are usually poorly filled and often limit the yield potential of some rice cultivars. The physiological and molecular mechanism for such poor grain filling remains unclear. In this study the differentially expressed genes in starch synthesis and hormone signalling between inferior and superior spikelets were com...

Time-sequence analyses of carbohydrate breakdown in germinating rice seeds shows that a rapid breakdown of starch reserve in endosperm starts after about 4 days of germination. Although the major soluble carbohydrate in the dry seed is sucrose, a marked increase in the production of glucose and maltooligosaccharides accompanies the breakdown of starch. Maltotriose was found to constitute the gr...

The objective of this research was to develop a method to predict the amount of total solids leached during rice cooking using light transmittance at 650 nm with an ultraviolet-visible spectrometer. Rice was cooked in excess water for different durations, the transmittance was measured, and the solids were determined gravimetrically after evaporation of the water. Results of leached solids obta...

Seed priming is a successful practice to improve crop establishment under adverse environment. However, reduced longevity of primed rice (Oryza sativa L.) seeds during storage limited the adoption of this technique. Present study investigated the effect of temperature, relative air humidity (RH) and oxygen on the longevity of primed rice seeds in a range of 60 days storage. In addition, the bio...