Study of structural and rheological properties of starch isolated from genetically modified potato

It has been found in this work that the starchiness and starch content in tubers of GM potato and tubers of initial Lugovskoi potato variety are identical. No differences and difficulties were observed upon starch preparation from GM and common potato. Starch samples isolated from GM potato conform to the current standard for potato starch. The starch isolated from GM potato has a higher melting point, i.e., it is more thermally stable as compared with the starch isolated from a control sample. The bulk modulus of gels obtained from starch isolated from GM potato is higher in comparison with that of gels prepared from starch isolated from the control sample. Thermodynamic and rheological properties of starch from GM potato provide a possibility to predict its application in the manufacture of thermostable and strong polymeric materials.     

绣球菌生物学特性若干问题的研究

绣球菌菌丝在蛋白胨培养基中生长最佳,硫酸铵、尿素、复合肥对菌丝生长有抑制作用。选用基础培养基或在基础培养基中添加0.3%蛋白胨作为绣球菌母种培养基较为合适。栽培料中添加淀粉可促进绣球菌的生长,接种50d后观察发现,添加新鲜去皮马铃薯块比马铃薯淀粉效果好,前者100%菌袋出现原基,后者只有50%菌袋出现原基,且原基正处在胶质片时期。添加大米淀粉,小麦淀粉效果与马铃薯块接近,甘薯淀粉与马铃薯淀粉效果接近。     

Modified natural halloysite/potato starch composite films

Halloysite/potato starch composites were prepared by adding modified natural halloysite nanotubes into potato starch matrices to reenforce the mechanical properties of potato starch films. The halloysite/potato starch films were characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope and infrared spectrometry. Meanwhile, the mechanical properties and transparency of the films were studied. The results show that the modified halloysite nanotubes can be well distributed in the starch matrix and thus the tensile strength of the films was clearly enhanced. The flexibility of the films could be improved through adding glycerol although at the cost of reducing tensile strength. But incorporation of PVA could further improve the tensile strength of the halloysite/potato starch films.     

复合淀粉凝胶电泳同工酶分析

为了克服水解马铃薯淀粉不易获得的困难,并使“水平切片淀粉凝胶电泳同工酶分析”更容易开展,普通的化学试剂马铃薯淀粉(或精制食用马铃薯淀粉)和可溶性淀粉混合物加入适当的添加剂被用来代替水解马铃薯淀粉制作凝胶。试验结果表明：用8～10％的上述混合淀粉(5∶3),添加1％的琼脂粉和2～4％的蔗糖,所制成的“复合淀粉凝胶”可以很好地被切片,并成功地对许多不同类群的植物材料的PGM、PGI、MDH、AAT、SKDH、6PGD、IDH和ME等酶进行染色。     

Isolation and physico-chemical and rheological characterisation of the Brazilian jalap starch (Operculina tuberosa Meisn.)

The properties of the jalap starch (Operculina tuberosa Meisn.) were investigated and compared with other already known starches (potato and wheat starch). The jalap starch presented peak viscosity lower than the one from potato but higher than wheat starch, while the stability during the cooling down was higher than potato and wheat starch. The jalap starch presented X-ray pattern of type-A, which is typical of those from wheat starch. The rheological and physico-chemical characteristics presented by this source of starch were intermediate between those from wheat and potato, which makes it a promising commercial source to be explored, mainly in areas with food scantiness as in the Brazilian Northeast.     

凝固剂对水稻花药培养愈伤组织诱导的影响

本文初步研究了不同类型的凝固剂对水稻花药培养愈伤组织形成的影响。结果发现,用Gelrite、马铃薯淀粉、甘薯淀粉、可溶性淀粉代替琼脂可明显促进水稻花药培养愈伤组织的产生而尤以5.0%马铃薯淀粉为最佳。出愈率比琼脂增加5.2倍,达液体培养水平。以8个不同基因型,为材料研究发现,5.0%马铃薯淀粉作凝固剂,有7个材料出愈率高于对照,最高的BC 163比对照增加7.75倍,平均增加1.15倍。另外,以5.0%马铃薯淀粉作凝固剂代替0.8%琼脂可降低成本30%。因此,用马铃薯淀粉作凝固剂在水稻花药培养中可能具有潜在的应用价值。     

Glucoamylase production by the marine yeast Aureobasidium pullulans N13d and hydrolysis of potato starch granules by the enzyme

Under the optimal conditions, 10 U/ml of glucoamylase was produced by the marine yeast Aureobasidium pullulans N13d. It was noticed that the crude glucoamylase actively hydrolyzed potato starch granules, but poorly digested raw corn starch and sweet potato starch, resulting in conversion of 68.5, 19 and 22% of them into glucose within 6 h of incubation in the presence of 40 g/l of potato starch granules and 20 U/ml of the crude enzyme. When potato starch granules concentration was increased from 10 to 80 g/l, hydrolysis extent was decreased from 85.6 to 60%, while potato starch granules concentration was increased from 80 to 360 g/l, hydrolysis extent was decreased from 60 to 56%. Ratio of hydrolysis extent of potato starch granules to hydrolysis extent of gelatinized potato starch was 86.0% and the hydrolysis extent of potato starch granules by action of the crude glucoamylase (1.0 U/ml) was 18.5% within 30 min at 60 °C. Only glucose was detected during the hydrolysis, indicating that the crude enzyme could hydrolyze both α-1,4 and α-1,6 linkages of starch molecule in the potato starch.     

凝固剂对水稻花药培养愈伤组织诱导的影响

本文初步研究了不同类型的凝固剂对水稻花药培养愈伤组织形成的影响。结果发现,用Gelrite、马铃薯淀粉、甘薯淀粉,可溶性淀粉代替琼脂可明显促进水稻花药培养愈伤组织的产生而尤以5.0％马铃薯淀粉为最佳。出愈率比琼脂增加5.2倍,达液体培养水平。以8个不同基因型,为材料研究发现,5．0％马铃薯淀粉作凝固剂,有7个材料出愈率高于对照,最高的BCl63比对照增加7.75倍,平均增加1.15倍。另外,以5.0％马铃薯淀粉作凝固剂代替0.8％琼脂可降低成本30％。因此,用马铃薯淀粉作凝固剂在水稻花药培养中可能具有潜在的应用价值。     

Enzymatic degradation of and bovine serum albumin release from starch-acetate films

The effect of acetylation of potato starch on swelling, enzymatic degradation, and bovine serum albumin (BSA, molecular mass 68 kDa) release rate from polymer films was studied. Potato starch and potato starch acetates (SA), having a degree of substitution of 1.9 or 2.6, were investigated. Polymer films were incubated in phosphate buffer solution pH 7.4 in the absence and presence of enzymes (alpha-amylase, amyloglucosidase, esterase) or in human serum. The acetylation of potato starch decreased its swelling considerably. Increased acetylation of starch also considerably retarded its enzymatic degradation. Due to the decreased swelling and degradation of SA films, BSA was released much slower from SA films than from potato starch films, both in the presence and absence of enzymes.     

Gel formation in mixtures of high amylopectin potato starch and potato starch

The effects of starch granules on the rheological behaviour of gels of native potato and high amylopectin potato (HAPP) starches have been studied with small deformation oscillatory rheometry. The influence of granule remnants on the rheological properties of samples treated at 90 °C was evident when compared with samples treated at 140 °C, where no granule remnants were found. The presence of amylose in native potato starch gave to stronger network formation since potato starch gave higher moduli values than HAPP, after both 90 and 140 °C treatments. In addition, amylose may have strengthened the network of HAPP because higher moduli values were obtained when native potato starch was added to the system. The moduli values of the mixtures also increased with increasing polysaccharide concentration in the system, which is due to an increment in the polysaccharide chain contacts and entanglements. Finally, it was found that a mixture of commercial amylose from potato starch and HAPP resulted in lower values of G′ compared to native potato starch. This indicates that the source of amylose is important for the properties in a blend with native amylopectin.     

Characterization of a Potato Starch-digesting Bacterium and Its Production of Amylase

A bacterium which can utilize potato starch granules as sole carbon source was isolated and identified as Bacillus circulans from its physiological and biochemical properties. Scanning electron microscopic observation of potato starch granules recovered from the culture broth revealed that granules were degraded gradually from their surface resulting in elongated granules with layered structures on their surface. This bacterium produced extracellular amylase which can digest potato starch granules in vitro. The amylase has a unique property in that it produces only maltohexaose from gelatinized starch in the early stage of the reaction. For the production of this amylase potato starch was found to be most effective while soluble sugars including gelatinized starch and maltose had little effect.     

The influence of various small plasticisers and malto-oligosaccharides on the retrogradation of (partly) gelatinised starch

Ageing of gelatinised and partly gelatinised potato starch and wheat starch were investigated in the presence of plasticisers with increasing size and number of OH groups (ethylene glycol, glycerol, threitol, xylitol, glucose, and for potato starch also maltose). The influences of these plasticisers and of granular remnants (ghosts) on recrystallisation were determined by using X-ray diffraction. Recrystallisation of potato starch samples in the presence of plasticisers resulted in crystallinity indices of 0.5. The largest reduction in potato starch recrystallisation is found for threitol (4 OH) and xylitol (5 OH). In the plasticiser range examined, the crystallisation inducing effect of granular potato starch remnants is reduced better when the plasticiser contains more OH groups. Wheat starch recrystallises to a lesser extent than potato starch, resulting in crystallinity indices of 0.4. The results for wheat starch do not show clear trends for the influences of plasticiser size and of ghosts. The difference in behaviour of the two starches is probably caused by wheat starch having shorter amylopectin chains. Resulting from these shorter amylopectin chains, the remaining structure in wheat starch ghosts may resemble A-type crystallinity, making it more difficult to form B-type crystals. Alternatively, the trends as found for potato starch may occur, but are less manifest for wheat starch, due to the lower total extent of recrystallisation. Solid state CP/MAS NMR spectra of the wheat starch samples containing ethylene glycol were obtained, in order to compare completely and partly gelatinised systems. The spectra were identical, confirming that the ghost structures do not influence wheat starch recrystallisation. Apparently, wheat starch ghosts do not act as nuclei for crystallisation.

Similarly, the influence of various malto-oligosaccharides in combination with granular remnants (ghosts) was investigated on wheat starch ageing. Gelatinised and partly gelatinised wheat starch were plasticised with maltose, maltotriose, maltotetraose, maltopentaose or maltohexaose. This resulted in crystallinity indices of 0.2, with the largest reduction in recrystallisation for maltotriose and maltotetraose. No trend was found for the influence of ghosts. The presence of ghosts did not influence the ¹³C solid state HP/DEC NMR spectra. Less recrystallisation took place than with the previously mentioned smaller plasticisers that resulted in crystallinity indices of 0.4. The finding that maltose was able to reduce retrogradation better than glucose could be of practical importance.     

Influence of pH and ionic strength on the viscoelastic properties of starch gels — A comparison of potato and cassava starches

The influence of pH, and of electrolytes, on the viscoelastic properties of potato and cassava starch gels was investigated, using a cone-and-plate rheometer run in the oscillatory mode. The gel strength of the potato starch gels had a maximum around pH 8·5, and was markedly lowered by the addition of even small amounts of electrolytes. This may be due to an electrostatic interaction between potato starch phosphate groups and added cations which blocks the normal phosphate-to-phosphate cross-linking. Neither pH nor electrolytes affected the viscoelastic properties of cassava starch gels. The gelatinization temperature and the gelatinization enthalpy of potato starch, as measured by differential scanning calorimetry, were insensitive to pH and to low electrolyte concentrations.     

Gelatinization mechanism of potato starch

The non-Newtonian behavior and dynamic viscoelasticity of potato starch (Jaga kids red ’90, 21.0% amylose content) solutions after storage at 25 and 4°C for 24 h were measured with a rheogoniometer. The flow curves, at 25°C, of potato starch showed plastic behavior >1.0% (w/v) after heating at 100°C for 30 min. A gelatinization of potato starch occurred above 1.0% at room temperature. A very large dynamic viscoelasticity was observed when potato starch solution (3.0%) was stored at 4°C for 24 h and stayed at a constant value with increasing temperature. A small dynamic modulus of potato starch was observed upon addition of urea (4.0 M) at low temperature (0°C) even after storage at 25 and 4°C for 24 h. A small dynamic modulus was also observed in 0.05 M NaOH solution. Possible models of gelatinization and retrogradation mechanism of potato starch were proposed.     

双酶法水解辐照改性马铃薯淀粉动力学研究

为了解辐照改性马铃薯淀粉的酶解特性,用α-淀粉酶和糖化酶同时作用于马铃薯原淀粉和经400 kGy剂量辐照处理后淀粉,考察了pH值、酶解温度、α-淀粉酶用量、糖化酶用量对反应速率的影响.以米氏方程为基础,用Lineweaver-Burk法求解动力学参数.结果表明,辐照后马铃薯淀粉的酶解反应速率明显高于马铃薯原淀粉.在单一水解体系中,α-淀粉酶和糖化酶对辐照前后马铃薯淀粉的降解都遵循Michaelis-Menten方程,α-淀粉酶的Km分别为11.343 mg· mL-1和9.386 mg· mL-1,Vmax分别为0.406 mg（mL·min）-1和1.079 mg（mL·min）-1;糖化酶的Km分别为10.307 mg· mL-1和8.905 mg·mL-1,Vmax分别为0.338 mg（mL·min）-1和0.821mg（mL·min）-1;水解产物葡萄糖对反应体系具有竞争性抑制剂的作用,其抑制常数Ki分别为1.298 mg·mL-1和0.934 mg·mL-1.研究结果表明辐照有效提高了马铃薯淀粉的酶解反应活性.     

On the reaction of potato starch with isocyanates

The reactions of potato starch in aqueous suspension with some isocyanates were investigated. In contrast to previously reported results we found that no starch carbamates were formed but only the corresponding urea compounds. These urea compounds were physically bound to the potato starch and could be washed from the starch by several organic solvents.     

Effects of fermentable starch and straw-enriched housing on energy partitioning of growing pigs

Both dietary fermentable carbohydrates and the availability of straw bedding potentially affect activity patterns and energy utilisation in pigs. The present study aimed to investigate the combined effects of straw bedding and fermentable carbohydrates (native potato starch) on energy partitioning in growing pigs. In a 2 × 2 factorial arrangement, 16 groups of 12 pigs (approximately 25 kg) were assigned to either barren housing or housing on straw bedding, and to native or pregelatinised potato starch included in the diet. Pigs were fed at approximately 2.5 times maintenance. Nitrogen and energy balances were measured per group during a 7-day experimental period, which was preceded by a 30-day adaptation period. Heat production and physical activity were measured during 9-min intervals. The availability of straw bedding increased both metabolisable energy (ME) intake and total heat production (P < 0.001). Housing conditions did not affect total energy retention, but pigs on straw bedding retained more energy as protein (P < 0.01) and less as fat (P < 0.05) than barren-housed pigs. Average daily gain (P < 0.001), ME intake (P < 0.001) and energy retention (P < 0.01) were lower in pigs on the native potato starch diet compared to those on the pregelatinised potato starch diet. Pigs on the pregelatinised potato starch diet showed larger fluctuations in heat production and respiration quotient over the 24-h cycle than pigs on the native potato starch diet, and a higher activity-related energy expenditure. The effect of dietary starch type on activity-related heat production depended, however, on housing type (P < 0.05). In barren housing, activity-related heat production was less affected by starch type (16.1% and 13.7% of total heat production on the pregelatinised and native potato starch diet, respectively) than in straw-enriched housing (21.1% and 15.0% of the total heat production on the pregelatinised and native potato starch diet, respectively). In conclusion, the present study shows that the availability both of straw bedding and of dietary starch type, fermentable or digestible, affects energy utilisation and physical activity of pigs. The effects of housing condition on protein and fat deposition suggest that environmental enrichment with long straw may result in leaner pigs. The lower energy expenditure on the physical activity of pigs on the native potato starch diet, which was the most obvious in straw-housed pigs, likely reflects a decrease in foraging behaviour related to a more gradual supply of energy from fermentation processes.     

Extrusion processing of high amylose potato starch materials

Thermoplastic starch was prepared by mixing native high amylose potato starch and normal potato starch in a Buss co-kneading extruder at starch to glycerol ratios of 100:45 and 100:30. The materials were also conditioned to different moisture contents at different relative humidities at 23 °C. After the mixing, the compounds were extruded into sheets with a Brabender laboratory extruder. The thermoplastic high amylose materials exhibited a higher melt viscosity than the normal potato starch materials when conditioned at 53% relative humidity. Increasing the moisture content in HAP from 27% to 30% (by weight) lowered the melt viscosity to the same level as that of normal potato starch with a moisture content of 28%. In general, the high amylose materials were more difficult to extrude than the thermoplastic material based on normal starch. The main extrusion problems encountered with the high amylose starch were unstable flow, insufficient melt tenacity and clogging of the die. By increasing the moisture content, increasing the compression ratio of the screw and increasing the rotation rate of the screw, the problems were reduced or eliminated. However, only with a starch to glycerol ratio of 100:45 was an acceptable extrusion result obtained. Extruded sheets of such high amylose materials had a stress at break of about 5 MPa at room temperature and 53% relative humidity, whereas the corresponding value for normal potato (thermoplastic) starch was 3 MPa. The elongation at break was also higher in the case of the high amylose material. The results are discussed in terms of residual crystallinity of the starch materials.     

Retrograded starches as potential anodes in lithium-ion rechargeable batteries

Retrograded starch is a crystal formed by starch molecules with hydrogen bonds. Many literatures have reported its physicochemical character, but its crystal structure is so far unclear. As we isolate amylose and amylopectin from retrograded maize, sweet potato and potato starches in 4.0M KOH solutions and make them retrograde alone in neutral solution (adjusted by HCl) to form crystal, a new phenomenon appears, crystals of KCl do not appear in retrograded potato amylose, potato amylopectin, and maize amylose, indicating that those crystals may absorb K(+) and (or) Cl(-), and those ions probably act with aldehyde of starch or hydroxy of fatty acid attached in starch, such characteristic may make retrograded starches replace graphite as anode with high-capacity in lithium-ion rechargeable batteries.     

The structure and properties of different types of starch exposed to UV radiation: A comparative study

The effect of UV-irradiation on four different types of native starch (corn, waxy corn, wheat and potato) have been investigated. Although the changes in the chemical structure of starch specimens were small, indicating good photostability, the samples lost adsorbed water and their crystallinity degree decreased after irradiation. Moreover, a drop in average molecular weight occurred in samples (with the exception of potato starch) as a result of main chain scission. The variations in the properties of investigated specimens of various origin were related to the differences in their structure and macromolecular arrangement. The lowest photostability among the four starches was exhibited by potato starch.