PLANT BIOTECHNOLOGY FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF DESIGN STARCHES

BUSI MARIA VICTORIA; MARTÍN MARIANA; GOMEZ CASATI, DIEGO

THE COMPLEX WORLD OF POLYSACCHARIDES

InTECH

Lugar: Rijeka; Año: 2012; p. 491 - 510

Transgenic crops have the potential to promote a revolutionary change in agriculture, nutrition,industry and medicine. Different transgenic lines with enhanced nutritional value can be achieved by themanipulation of plant genomes. There are numerous examples where through the use of biotechnologicaltechniques were obtained more nutritious and better tasting foods, higher crop yields and other plants thatare naturally resistant to different stresses. Besides, these techniques allow the transfer of only one or afew desirable genes, thereby permitting scientists to develop crops with specific beneficial traits or reducedundesirable traits [1] (http://ificinfo.health.org/backgrnd/BKGR14.htm;www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/foodsci/ext/pubs/bioapp.pdf).Starch and dietary fiber in cereals provide about two thirds of the total energy intake in developingcountries [2], mainly from starch which comprises about 70% of the whole grain and 80% of white flourderived from wheat (the most widely consumed food grain). Starch is rapidly digested in thegastrointestinal tract leading to the rapid release of glucose with the consequent increase in insulin levels,which is considered to be the major factor contributing to the development of the metabolic syndrome. Theproduction of new starches with low digestibility or digested at a slow rate (resistant starch) is therefore amajor target for plant and food biotechnologists. This type of starch could also be defined as a type ofdietary fiber which is beneficial for colonic health [3,4].This chapter will discuss the different strategies for the production of resistant starches in plantsusing molecular biology and biotechnology tools. We will perform a thorough analysis of the experiencesalready published and include a section of our present work.