Recent research has illuminated the longstanding question of how starch granules develop in the seeds of Triticeae crops – including wheat, barley, and rye. This discovery holds the potential to benefit numerous industries and human health significantly.
The ratio of A- and B-type granules can affect the quality of wheat-based foods, such as bread and pasta. The two types of granules also present a problem for the starch manufacturing industry because many of the smaller B-type granules are lost and therefore wasted during the milling process. Further, too many B-type starch granules in barley can cause a hazy or cloudy appearance in beer because they do not get digested and filtered out during the brewing process.by the group of Dr.
“So, for us to discover the enzyme responsible for making the smaller granule population and to be able to use our breeding platform to reduce the number of B-type granules will hopefully be of great interest to many industry users. Wheat and its relatives contribute more than one-third of starch used for European industry purposes. Potato and maize starch have different compositions and granule morphology to those in the Triticeae.