Carbohydrate biosynthesis and its regulation in cereal grains

植物具有独特的能力来捕获光能，并利用它将大气中的二氧化碳固定为碳水化合物，而碳水化合物在谷类作物中存在于谷物中。 因此，谷物是人类饮食和动物饲料中卡路里的主要来源。 碳水化合物具有相当大的结构多样性，相对较小的变化可以改变其功能特性和用途。 例如，淀粉结构的变化改变了其在人类和动物胃中的消化率。 这种改变的淀粉，称为抗性淀粉，可以减少谷物产品的卡路里含量，从而使谷物产品适合糖尿病患者。 此外，由于它被结肠中的细菌分解，它可能有助于降低结肠癌的风险。 拟议的研究将提高我们对淀粉生物合成的基本理解，并使分子策略的发展，以产生具有独特淀粉谱的小麦和大麦品系。 这将有助于加拿大生产商占领利基市场，并帮助他们在全球市场上保持竞争力。此外，用淀粉含量改变的小麦和大麦制成的食品也有助于预防肥胖和结肠癌等疾病，并有可能降低医疗保健成本。

Plants have the unique capability to capture light energy and use it to fix atmospheric carbon dioxide into carbohydrates, which in cereal crops are present in the grain. Thus, cereal grains are the major source of calories in human diet and animal feed. Carbohydrates exhibit considerable structural diversity and relatively small changes can alter their functional properties and uses. For example, a change in starch structure alters its digestibility in human and animal stomach. This altered starch, referred to as resistant starch, can result in reduction in the amount of calories available from grain-based products, thus making grain products suitable for diabetics. Furthermore, since it is broken down by bacteria in the colon, it may contribute to lowering the risk of colon cancer. The proposed research will improve our basic understanding of starch biosynthesis and enable development of molecular strategies to produce wheat and barley lines with unique starch profiles. This will help Canadian producers to capture niche markets and help them to stay competitive in the global market place. In addition, food products made with wheat and barley with altered starch profiles can also help in disease prevention such as obesity and colon cancer and it has the potential to reduce health care costs.