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Germination is of importance to improving nutritional attributes of cereal grains for human consumption. The effect of germination time on major nutrient compositions and functional properties of sorghum flour was investigated in this study. Grains of Butanua, a new Sudanese sorghum cultivar, were germinated for 0, 1, 2, and 3 days to analyze their chemical and functional properties. The contents of starch, protein, oil, foaming stability, bulk density, and least gelation concentration of sorghum flour decreased, whereas oil absorption capacity, foaming capacity, and emulsion capacity and stability enhanced with an increase in germination time. Improved functional properties of sorghum flour by germination of the grains not only make it useful and suitable for various food processing formulations, but also improve the food product quality. This new finding will beneficially help develop innovative technologies, design new types of functional foods, and promote both sorghum production and relevant food processing industry in the future.

Changes in physiological and biochemical metabolism as well as glucoraphanin and sulforaphane contents of germinating broccoli seeds and sprouts were investigated in this study. Sprout length, root length, and fresh weight increased with germination time. Dry weight varied from 2.5 to 3.0 mg per sprout. A rapid increase in respiratory rate of sprouts occurred between 24 and 36 h of germination and then stayed at a high level. HPLC analysis found that glucoraphanin content increased at the early stage (0-12 h) of germination, decreased to a low value of 3.02 mg/g at 48 h, and then reached the highest value of 6.30 mg/g at 72 h of germination. Sulforaphane content decreased dramatically during the first day of germination, then increased slowly, and reached a high value of 3.38 mg/g at 48 h before declining again.

Highlights: [•] Growth temperature affected the contents of glucoraphanin, sulforaphane and nitrile. [•] Sulforaphane formation was highest in cotyledon and lowest in root. [•] Myrosinase activity in cotyledon was lower than that in hypocotyl and root. [•] The most abundant hydrolysis product in all organs except for root was sulforaphane. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Effects of NaCl stress and supplemental CaCl on soybean growth and gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) accumulation pathways in germinating soybean were investigated. Germinating under NaCl stress, GABA accumulation was caused not only by the activation of glutamate decarboxylase (GAD), diamine oxidase (DAO) and aminoaldehyde dehydrogenase (AMADH) existing in seed but also by their gene expression up-regulation during germination. However, after CaCl (6 mM) application, the harmful effect of NaCl stress (50 mM) was removed. GAD activity significantly increased, while its gene expression levels had no significant changes with the control, indicating that the increment in GAD activity was caused by the stimulation of exogenous Ca. Meanwhile, GABA was still accumulated although DAO and AMADH activities and their gene expression levels had no significant difference compared with the control. It can be concluded that CaCl addition decreased the contribution of polyamine degradation pathway to GABA accumulation compared with NaCl stress, and the increased GABA was mainly synthesized via GABA shunt. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) is a non-protein amino acid with bioactive functions in humans. In this work, glutamate decarboxylase (EC 4.1.1.15, GAD) which is key in the GABA bioformation was purified from 5-day germinated faba beans and characterized. A single band was observed at 58kDa using sodium dodecyl sulphate gel electrophoresis. GAD optimal activity was at pH 6.0 at 40°C with a K m value for glutamic acid (Glu) of 2.63mM. The enzyme was inhibited significantly by Cu2+, Fe3+, Mg2+, Ba2+, aminoxyacetate, EGTA, Na2EDTA, l-cysteine and beta-mercaptoethanol; and activated at low Ca2+ 0.2mM. Using RT-PCR, the GAD cDNA was sequenced which indicated 1787bp long, containing a 1527bp open reading frame (ORF) that encoded 509 amino-acid peptides with a calculated molecular weight of 57.74kDa and a pI of 5.41 (GenBank accession number: JX444699). [Copyright &y& Elsevier]