The Challenges of Analyzing the Molecular Properties of Starch
Popular Abstract in English The Andean region and the Amazon Basin of South America have been identified as regions of origin and the domestication of many plants. Some of the food crops from these regions such as potato and cassava, have gained global import¬ance, while the majority of food crops are hardly know outside their present area of cultivation. In the first part of this study, underutiBoth the nutritional and functional properties of starch are directly influenced by the molecular structure of its polymers: amylose and amylopectin. It is therefore important to have reproducible methods for quantifying the molecular size. In the first part of the thesis, the composition, crystallinity, degree of branching, morphological, thermal and pasting properties, and susceptibility of the