Essentially all plants store starch in their leaves during the day and break it down the following night. This transitory starch accumulation acts as an overflow mechanism when the sucrose synthesis capacity is limiting, and transitory starch also acts as a carbon store to provide sugar at night. Transitory starch breakdown can occur by either of two pathways; significant progress has been made...

It is important to obtain starch-based homogeneous systems for starch modification. Regarding this, an important key point is to find cheap, low-cost and low-toxicity solvents to allow complete dissolution of starch and its easy regeneration. This study reveals that a ZnCl2 aqueous solution is a good non-derivatizing solvent for starch at 50 °C, and can completely dissolve starch granules. The ...

Antibodies were used to probe the degree of association of starch biosynthetic enzymes with starch granules isolated from maize (Zea mays) endosperm. Graded washings of the starch granule, followed by release of polypeptides by gelatinization in 2% sodium dodecyl sulfate, enables distinction between strongly and loosely adherent proteins. Mild aqueous washing of granules resulted in near-comple...

Fractional rate of degradation (kd) of fermentable nutrients in the rumen is an important parameter in modern feed evaluation systems based on mechanistic models. Estimates of kd for starch was obtained on 19 starch sources originating from barley, wheat, oat, maize and peas and treated in different ways both chemically and physically. The starch sources were fed in mixed diets together with gr...

Influence of sulfur dioxide (SO2) and lactic acid (LA) on grain sorghum steeping efficiency in terms of wetmilling characteristics was investigated using response surface analysis. Tested ranges of concentrations in steeping water were 0.050 to 0.278% and 0 to 0.282% for SO2 and LA, respectively. Measured wet-milling variables were steeping solids yield, starch yield, protein yield, fiber/germ ...

Starch accumulation and breakdown are vital processes in plant storage organs such as seeds, roots, and tubers. In tubers of potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) a small fraction of starch is converted into the reducing sugars glucose and fructose. Reducing sugars accumulate in response to cold temperatures. Even small quantities of reducing sugars affect negatively the quality of processed products s...

A meta-analysis was performed to determine the influence of cereal grain type and corn grain harvesting and processing methods, dietary starch, rumen-digestible starch, and forage NDF concentrations on intake, digestion, and lactation performance by dairy cows using a data set comprising 414 treatment means from 102 peer-reviewed journal reports from 2000 to 2011. Categories for corn processing...

a study has been made of the compaction properties of two experimental starches, namely yam starch obtained from dioscorea rotundata and rice starch obtained from oryza sativa and the mechanical properties of their tablets, in comparison with those of official corn starch. the influences of the physical and geometric properties of the starch particles on the compression properties of the starch...

Barley (Hordeum vulgare) grains synthesize starch as the main storage compound. However, some starch is degraded already during caryopsis development. We studied temporal and spatial expression patterns of genes coding for enzymes of starch synthesis and degradation. These profiles coupled with measurements of selected enzyme activities and metabolites have allowed us to propose a role for star...

The phosphorylation of amylopectin by the glucan, water dikinase (GWD; EC 2.7.9.4) is an essential step within starch metabolism. This is indicated by the starch excess phenotype of GWD-deficient plants, such as the sex1-3 mutant of Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana). To identify starch-related enzymes that rely on glucan-bound phosphate, we studied the binding of proteins extracted from Arabid...