Understanding the microstructural changes of raw potato during processing is critical if food properties want to be controlled properly, because there is a causal connection between structure and functionality. Major structural elements contributing to potato products identity and quality are plant cells, cell walls and starch granules. During processing, which can be viewed as a series of rest...

Ceratocystis fimbriata is a large, diverse complex of species that cause wilt-type diseases of many economically important plants. Previous studies have shown that isolates in three monophyletic lineages within the Latin American clade of C. fimbriata are host-specialized to cacao (Theobroma cacao), sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) and sycamore (Platanus spp.), respectively. We paired testers of ...

Sweet potato [Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam] ranks among the top seven most important food crops cultivated worldwide and is hexaploid plant (2n=6x=90) in the Convolvulaceae family with a genome size between 2,200 to 3,000 Mb. The genomic resources for this crop are deficient due to its complicated genetic structure. Here, we report the complete nucleotide sequence of the chloroplast (cp) genome of ...

Phosphate esters are responsible for valuable and unique functionalities of starch for industrial applications. Also in the cell phosphate esters play a role in starch metabolism, which so far has not been well characterized in storage starch. Laforin, a human enzyme composed of a carbohydrate-binding module and a dual-specificity phosphatase domain, is involved in the dephosphorylation of glyc...

A member of the potato proteinase inhibitor II (PPI-II) gene family under the control of the cauliflower mosaic virus 35S promoter has been introduced into tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum). Purification of the PPI-II protein that accumulates in transgenic tobacco has confirmed that the N-terminal signal sequence is removed and that the inhibitor accumulates as a protein of the expected size (21 kD)....

Solid-state fermentation (SSF) can divert food waste from landfills and produce high-value products. This study was aimed to investigate the feasibility of using SSF and optimize the conditions of production of phytase by Aspergillus ficuum from potato waste. Different parameters including pH of the potato waste, inoculum level, moisture content, incubation period, temperature, and supplementar...

The cytochrome c reductase complexes from fungi and mammals both contain a 14-kD protein (yeast, 14.4 kD; bovine, 13.4 kD) that does not directly participate in electron transfer but possibly is indirectly involved in the function of the complex and has a role in assembly of the multimeric enzyme. A subunit of comparable size was identified for the bc1 complex of higher plants. The 14-kD protei...

Naive mated female cabbage looper moths, Trichoplusia ni Hübner, responded in a flight tunnel to potted potato plants ( Solanum tuberosum ). Percentages of moths attracted to uninjured potato plants, mechanically-damaged potato plants, and potato plants treated with regurgitant from larvae of the Colorado potato beetle, Leptinotarsa decemlineata Say, were similar, indicating no effect of plant ...

A nationwide survey was performed to investigate the current incidence of viral diseases in Korean sweet potatoes for germplasm and growing fields from 2011 to 2014. A total of 83.8% of the germplasm in Korea was infected with viruses in 2011. Commercial cultivars that were used to supply growing fields were infected at a rate of 62.1% in 2012. Among surveyed viruses, the incidence of five Poty...