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Cereal Chem 72:162-167  |  VIEW ARTICLE

Association of Zein Classes with Maize Kernel Hardness.

R. C. Pratt, J. W. Paulis, K. Miller, T. Nelsen, and J. A. Bietz. Copyright 1995 by the American Association of Cereal Chemists, Inc. 

The association between maize kernel vitreosity (hardness) and the composition and content of alpha-, beta- , and gamma-zeins was investigated. F2 populations from two pairs of reciprocal flint x floury crosses were fractionated according to density by flotation in sodium nitrate solutions. Zeins were extracted from these fractions and quantified by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography. Statistical analyses indicated that F2 genotype affected all zein classes. In addition, direction of cross affected alpha- and 16- kDa gamma-zeins, and the individual ears from which F2 samples were obtained affected alpha-, beta-, and gamma-zein amounts and compositions. The strongest apparent correlation was a decrease in amount of 16- kDa gamma-zein as kernel density increased in F2 kernels from the Papago Flour (floury) x Ross Early Flint (flint) cross. alpha-Zein levels correlated positively, but to a lesser extent, with kernel density in F2 kernels from the Papago Flour (floury) x Kantz Flint (flint) cross. In the reciprocal F2 population, however, zein class and kernel density were not significantly correlated. Thus, while zein classes appear to relate to kernel hardness variation in specific normal maize genotypes, we found no consistent relationship between individual or total zeins and kernel density across all populations.

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