Nutritionally Enhanced Staple Food Crops

Crop biofortification is a sustainable and cost-effective strategy to address malnutrition in developing countries. This review synthesizes the progress toward developing seed micronutrient-dense cereals and legumes cultivars by exploiting natural genetic variation using conventional breeding and/or transgenic technology, and discusses the associated issues to strengthen crop biofortification research and development. Some major QTL for seed iron and zinc, seed phosphorus, and seed phytate in common bean, rice,J;md wheat have been mapped. An iron reductase QTL associated with seed-iron ~QTL is found in common bean where the genes coding for candidate enzymes involved in phytic acid synthesis have also been mapped. Candidate genes for Ipa co segregate with mutant phenotypes identified in rice and soybean. The Gpe-B1 locus in wild emmer wheat accelerates senescence and increases nutrient remobilization from leaves to developing seeds, and another gene named TtNAM-B1 affecting these traits has been cloned. Seed iron-dense common bean and rice in Latin America; seed iron-dense common bean in eastern and southern Africa;....

Ultrastructure of Quinoa Fruit (Chenopodium quinoa Willd)

The structure of quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa) fruit before and after germination was studied using electron microscopy. Protective coverings include a perianth consisting of loosely adhering cell s which are readily removed by washing, a pericarp and two seed coat layers. Starch granules fill the perispenn cells and are arranged in 18 to 20 oblong aggregates. Limited hydrolysis of the starch occurs after 24 hrs of germination, with amylolytic erosion of large granules occurring at the hilum and periphery of the granul es. Ungerminated embryo cells contain protein bodies with phosphorus-containing globoid inclusions. Essentially complete hydrolysis of the embryo protein bodies occurs within 24 hrs of germination leaving large central vacuoles within the cells

Graft copolymerization of methacrylates onto wool fibers

Grafting of butyl (BuMA), decyl (DeMA), and octadecyl methacrylate (ODeMA) onto reduced wool was carried out by using K2S2O8 or K2S2O8–LiBr redox system as initiator. The influence of the monomer and monomer concentration, temperature, and duration of the reaction on the percentage of grafting was studied. Evidence of grafting was provided by scanning electron microscopy, size exclusion chromatography, and infrared spectroscopy. Copyright © 1992 John Wiley & Sons, Inc