Award details

The structure and synthesis of carbohydrates in legume seeds

Reference	BBS/E/J/00000167
Principal Investigator / Supervisor	Professor Clifford Hedley
Co-Investigators / Co-Supervisors	Professor Trevor Wang
Institution	John Innes Centre
Department	John Innes Centre Department
Funding type	Research
Value (£)	779,354
Status	Completed
Type	Institute Project
Start date	01/04/1997
End date	30/09/2005
Duration	102 months

Abstract

The physical and chemical properties of starches are important because they determine the range of industrial uses of starch and also affect their digestibility and nutritional status. Starch is the major storage carbohydrate in pea seeds; in this multidisciplinary project, naturally-occurring and induced mutants have been used to manipulate the amounts and types of pea starch. The novel starches thus generated have physicochemical properties that are of industrial significance. Some mutants in which starch synthesis has been perturbed contain high levels of soluble seed carbohydrates, including raffinose-related alpha-galactosides. Such sugars may play an important role in protecting seeds against the stress of natural desiccation, but also can act as antinutritional factors in human diets, causing problems with digestion. This project studies the genetic and environmental control of these important compounds with the aim of obtaining the appropriate spectrum of soluble sugars for protection against stress and optimal digestibility. The project employs genetics, biochemistry, molecular biology, physical chemical and nutritional studies to achieve its aims.

Summary

unavailable

Committee	Closed Committee - Plant & Microbial Sciences (PMS)
Research Topics	X – not assigned to a current Research Topic
Research Priority	X – Research Priority information not available
Research Initiative	X - not in an Initiative
Funding Scheme	X – not Funded via a specific Funding Scheme

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