Maize
Genetics Cooperation Newsletter 80. 2006.
Wisconsin Center for Space Auotmation and Robotics
University of Wisconsin-Madison
The sugary (su) genotype, which is commonly used as sweet corn, differs from other vegetable corns by its ability to produce large amounts of phytoglycogen, an important factor in the texture of an edible product. However, the sugary gene does not produce as high a level of endosperm sugars as shrunken2 or brittle1 or 2. There was another line of sugary corn discovered by A. M. Rhodes named sugary enhancer (se) that possesses certain characteristics differing markedly from normal sugary corn. The sugar content of the endosperm is comparable to sh2 without a loss of phytoglycogen. Later, it was found that sugary enhancer (se) has considerably higher content of maltose as compared to any other sugary corns. Here we report that the accumulated higher content of maltose in sugary enghancer (se) is due to a defect of maltase enzyme activity. Maltase catalyzes the following enzyme reaction:
Maltose ----------------------------------> 2 glucose
Thus, the sugary enghancer gene (se) as recommended by Rhodes could code for maltase protein as its gene product.
_________________________________________________
Please
note:
Notes submitted to the Maize Genetics Cooperation Newsletter may be cited only
with consent of the authors.
Return to MNL 80 on-line index.
Return to MNL index.
Return to MaizeGDB home page
____________________________________________