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Previous geophysical investigations of the western continental margin of India (WCMI) confirm the two-phase breakup history of the margin with the first breakup taking place between India and Madagascar that created the Mascarene Basin in the Late Cretaceous and the second breakup event in Early Paleocene with Seychelles separating from India. Despite numerous geoscientific studies along the WCMI, the opening of the Laccadive basin, situated along the southern part of the margin, remains poorly constrained. In this study, we evaluate the multi-channel seismic reflection and gravity anomalies at the margin to identify the early rift signatures in conjunction with the magnetic anomaly identifications in the Mascarene Basin. The analysis led to the identification of two trends of extensional structures, a NNW–SSE-oriented structure over the Laccadive Ridge north of Tellicherry Arch, interpreted to result from ENE–WSW extension, and a SSW–NNE-oriented structure in the Laccadive basin region towards the south, interpreted to result from NW–SE extension. Previous plate reconstruction models of the Mascarene Basin using marine magnetic lineations suggest that the ENE–WSW extension observed over the Laccadive Ridge could be related to the India–Madagascar separation. We associate the pattern of sediment deposition and the presence of a Paleocene trap volcanics, linked with the NW–SE grabens observed in the Laccadive basin region, to the extension between the Laccadive Ridge and the western coast of India after the separation of Madagascar from India. We further propose that the anticlockwise rotation of India and the passage of the Réunion plume have facilitated the opening of the Laccadive basin.

IntroductionStudents starting medical school generally come from a learning background that expects them to learn content, which is reproduced to pass an exam. As a part of their learning development, they must adapt and become self-motivated learners who can determine the underlying principles or concepts and use these to problem solve in the uncertainty of real-life clinical practice. Whilst much has been written about designing curricula to promote learning development, there is no one-size fits all approach to facilitating this type of learning, thus an analysis of what helps and hinders learning development is indicated.MethodsStudent pairs in Y2 and Y3 of an undergraduate Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (BMBS) programme of a South-West UK medical school, were asked to audio record a conversation about their learning through a facilitated problem-based learning approach during the BMBS course so far. They were provided with a brief to aid them in their discussion in the style of the outside broadcast method of BBC Radio 4s listening project. Using this method, the conversation was unfacilitated and allowed to take its natural course. Conversations were transcribed and coded to determine emerging themes with respect to the developing understanding of the students about what and how they were learning.ResultsFour student pairs volunteered for the project one from Y2 and three from Y3. Five key themes were identified including: from ‘learning it all, to structured learning’; ‘developing understanding and the spiral curriculum’; ‘working alone versus working with others’; ‘integrated learning and understanding context’ and ‘assessment and resources.’ Narrative analysis within these themes suggested that over the course of the first two to three years of study, participants developed a better understanding of how best to learn, although there were differences in both time and order that participants reached a point where learning felt more natural to them.DiscussionAnalysis of the data suggested that students develop independently towards being self-motivated lifelong learners. There were several key aspects of curriculum design that could be used to facilitate this development, which could easily be incorporated into developing or creating problem- / enquiry-based curricula.

Chinese steamed bread (CSB), which is widely consumed in East Asia, usually undergoes storage before consumption, but it is unclear how different storage temperatures affect CSB starch retrogradation and digestion properties, which are important for consumers. CSB was stored for 2 days at 25 °C, 4 °C, −18 °C, 4 °C/25 °C temperature cycling (i.e., 24 h at 4 °C, followed by 24 h at 25 °C) and −18 °C/ 25 °C temperature cycling. The results revealed for the first time that more orderly starch double helices are formed when CSB was stored at 4 °C or 4 °C/25 °C. Storage under −18 °C produced lower amounts of, but more heterogenous, starch double helices, with fewer B-type, but more V-type, crystallites. Compared to other storage temperatures, more long-range intermolecular interactions formed between the starch and protein at 4 °C or 4 °C/25 °C. CSB samples showed the slowest starch digestibility when stored at 4 °C. The impact of storage temperature on the starch retrogradation properties and digestibility of CSB also depended on the wheat variety, attributed to differences in the starch molecular structure. These results have significance and practical applications to help the CSB food industry to control starch retrogradation and digestibility. For example, CSB could be stored at 4 °C for 2 days in order to reduce its starch digestibility.

Background: A growing number of studies have assessed the effects of acute nicotine on affect, cognition, and brain activity in never-established smokers in attempts to identify mechanisms by which nicotine promotes progression to dependence. However, these acute administration studies have not adequately addressed the problem of potential adverse side effects due to lack of tolerance, such as nausea, feelings of sickness, lightheadedness, and general negative affect and malaise – a term referred to as nicotine overdose events (NODEs). Thus, we report the first study to carefully characterize the prevalence, intensity, and effects of NODEs in never-established-smokers after acute nicotine administration. Methods: We compared the subjective effects of two different 7 mg nicotine patches that have different pharmacokinetics on never-established smokers ( n = 67). One patch produces gradual increases in blood nicotine and the other produces more rapid increases in blood nicotine. Results: The findings suggest that in never-smokers, the lowest dose (7 mg) of rapid blood nicotine-rise patches are associated with a high prevalence of NODEs (45.83%) and decreased positive affect (PA) (54.17%) compared to a placebo patch (8.34% for NODEs and 33.34% for PA). The slow-rise patch did not significantly affect nicotine overdose symptoms or PA. Conclusions: Fast blood-rise nicotine patches may not be an ecologically valid method of nicotine delivery to never-smokers, while slow-rise nicotine patches, lower dose, and self-paced dosing may be more appropriate in this population. Findings also highlight the importance of the careful assessment of NODES in this population.

Starch provides approximately half of humans’ food energy, and its structural features influence human health. The most important structural feature is the chain length distribution (CLD), which affects properties such as the digestibility of starch-containing foods. The rate of digestion of such foods has a strong correlation with the prevalence and treatment of diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease and obesity. Starch CLDs can be divided into multiple regions of degrees of polymerization, wherein the CLD in a given region is predominantly, but not exclusively, formed by a particular set of starch biosynthesis enzymes: starch synthases, starch branching enzymes and debranching enzymes. Biosynthesis-based models have been developed relating the ratios of the various enzyme activities in each set to the CLD component produced by that set. Fitting the observed CLDs to these models yields a small number of biosynthesis-related parameters, which, taken together, describe the entire CLD. This review highlights how CLDs can be measured and how the model-based parameters obtained from fitting these distributions are related to the properties of starch-based foods significant for health, and it considers how this knowledge could be used to develop plant varieties to provide foods with improved properties.

Zeaxanthin is a natural xanthophyll carotenoid and the main macular pigment that protects the macula from light-initiated oxidative damage, but it has poor stability and low bioavailability. Absorption of this active ingredient into starch granules as a carrier can be used to improve both zeaxanthin stability and controlled release. Optimization using three variables judged important for optimizing the system (reaction temperature of 65 °C, starch concentration of 6%, and reaction time of 2 h) was conducted for incorporation of zeaxanthin into corn starch granules, aiming for high zeaxanthin content (2.47 mg/g) and high encapsulation efficiency (74%). Polarized-light microscopy, X-ray diffraction, differential scanning calorimetry, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy showed that the process partially gelatinized corn starch; additionally, it showed the presence of corn starch/zeaxanthin composites, with the zeaxanthin successfully trapped in corn starch granules. The half-life time of zeaxanthin in corn starch/zeaxanthin composites increased to 43 days as compared with that of zeaxanthin alone (13 days). The composites show a rapid increase in zeaxanthin release with in vitro intestinal digestion, which is favorable for possible use in living systems. These findings could have application in designing effective starch-based carriers of this bioactive ingredient with enhanced storage stability and improved intestines-targeted controlled-release delivery.

Many properties of starch-containing foods are significantly statistically correlated with various structural parameters. The significance of a correlation is judged by the p-value, and this evaluation is based on the assumption of linear relationships between structural parameters and properties. We here examined the linearity assumption to see if it can be used to predict properties at conditions that are not close to those under which they were measured. For this we used both common domesticated rices (DRs) and Australian wild rices (AWRs), the latter having significantly different structural parameters and properties compared to DRs. The results showed that (1) the properties were controlled by more than just the amylopectin or amylose chain-length distributions or amylose content, other structural features also being important, (2) the linear model can predict the enthalpy ΔHg of both AWRs and DRs from the structural parameters to some extent but is often not accurate; it can predict the ΔHg of indica rices with acceptable accuracy from the chain length distribution and the amount of longer amylose chains (degree of polymerization > 500), and (3) the linear model can predict the stickiness of both AWRs and DRs to acceptable accuracy in terms of the amount of longer amylose chains. Thus, the commonly used linearity assumption for structure-property correlations needs to be regarded circumspectly if also used for quantitative prediction.

This communication paper reflects on discussions from a workshop about Indigenous involvement in the peer review and editorial processes. Arctic-based research is undergoing a paradigm shift to include local Indigenous Peoples, their priorities, and knowledge throughout the research process. This special issue is an excellent example; it highlights research involving partnerships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous researchers to support knowledge co-production. Despite this shift, we find little space within the standard peer review and editorial processes for Indigenous Peoples, their perspectives, and knowledge. To discuss this issue, we organized a half-day workshop at the 2019 ArcticNet Annual Scientific Meeting with a diversity of Indigenous and non-Indigenous participants who are involved in Arctic research. The discussions revealed that answering questions about the involvement of Indigenous Peoples in the peer review and editorial processes largely begins by addressing the challenges of achieving equity in the research process generally. Our discussions demonstrated that further conversations are needed and that no single approach will work in all cases, but that there are several concrete actions that researchers, universities, funding organizations, and publishers can take to begin addressing this issue. Taanna tusaumaqatigiguti paippaaq uqausiqarmat uqallaqatigigutaulauqtunik katimasinnaarutiqaktillugit Nunaqaqqaaksimanirmut qaujisattiarnirmik qimirrulutik ammalu aaqqiksuqtautiuqtillugit pilirianguningit. Ukiuqtaqturmittuq qaujinasuarvik pilirivalliajuugaluaq tukisinarutaugajuktumik piliringaaliqpallialutik piqasiujjauqullugit nunalinni Nunaqaqqaaqsimajut inungit, ammalu qaujimaningit iluunnalimaangani qaujinasuarniup pilirianguningata. Taanna ajjiungittuq akaunngiliuruti piujuaalungmat tukisinaqsitittijjutauninga; ujjirnaqsitittingmat qaujinasuarnirmik piliriqatautittininganit piliriqatigiignningitigu kamakkua Nunaqaqqaaksimajut ammalu uqqurmiut qaujinasuaqtit ikajuqsuiqullugit qaujimanirmik sanaqataujunik. Tamannaugaluatillugu piliriangungaaliqpallianinga, nanisigatta piviqarvigalaangannit iluani atuqtaulluatasuni qaujisattiarluni qimirrunirmi ammalu aaqqiksuigiakkannirnirmut pilirinirmik Nunaqaqqaaksimajut inungnut, kiggaqtuijinginnut ammalu qaujimaninginut. Uqaqatigigutiginiarlugit tamakkua akaunngiliurutit, aaqqiksuilauratta avvanganit ulluup katimasinnaarnirmik taikani 2019 Ukiuqtaqtumik Tukisiniaqatigiit Arraagutamat Qaujinasuarnirmuungajunik Katimaqatigigniq ajjigiingillutik Nunaqaqqaaksimajut ammalu Nunaqaqqaaksimajuungittut piliriqataujut taikkua piliriqataujut Ukiuqtaqturmi qaujinasuarnirmi. Uqaqatigingniit saqitittilaurmata tamanna kiuqattarniq apiqqutinik turaangajunik piliriqatautitauninginnut Nunaqaqqaaksimajut inungit qaujisattiarluni qimirrunirmi ammalu aaqqiksuigiakkannirnirmi piliriniujunik angijumik pigiarutiqasungumat piliriangunasuaalirninginnut piliriangujarialiit pijaunasuarutauluni taimaalluaqatigiingnirmit qaujinasuaqtut pilirininginni tamaitigut. Uqaqatigignivut tukisinaqsitittingmat tauvungakkanniq uqaqatigigutiqakkanniriaqaratta ammalu pitaqangimmat atausiarluni pilirijjutaugajaqtumik aaqqiksijjutaugajaqtumik qanuittutuinnarni piliriangujuqarajaqpat, kisiani qatsikallangnik sanngijunik pilirigiarutaujuqarmat qaujinasuaqtikkunnit, silattuqsarvigjuanit, kiinaujaqaktittijit iqanaijarviqunginnit ammalu uqalimaagaliuqtit pilirigiarunnarmata tamanna pilianguqullugu akaunngiliuti.

Foods wherein the starch is slowly digested contribute to good health by reducing the tendency to, and for the maintenance of, diabetes, obesity and colo-rectal cancers. While foods with high amylose content have this desirable property, they usually do not have high sensory appeal and consumers are reluctant to eat them. While sensory evaluation by trained human panelists is the best way to obtain consumer preferences, these tests are expensive, time-consuming and require considerable effort and care. Instrumental measurements are easier, cheaper and invaluable for screening, but only useful if they correlate with human data for the type of food being considered. Here, we test this using cooked rice with a wide range of amylose contents. Functional properties were correlated against quantitative descriptive panelist analysis. Swelling power and breakdown viscosity correlated with all panelist sensory attributes, but no other correlations with gelatinization properties were observed. There was a strong correlation between hardness and stickiness measured by texture profile analysis (TPA) and by panelists, suggesting that TPA can be used to measure hardness and stickiness of cooked rice. We also showed that breakdown viscosity is a reliable instrumental means to provide indicative measurements of hardness and rice preference, and swelling power is a predictor of rice stickiness.

Whole white rice is a major staple food for human consumption, with its starch digestion rate and location in the gastrointestinal tract having a critical role for human health. Starch has a multi-scale structure, which undergoes order-disorder transitions during rice cooking, and this structure is a major determinant of its digestibility. The length distributions of amylose and amylopectin chains are important determinants of rice starch gelatinization properties. Starch chain-length and molecular-size distributions are important determinants of nucleation and crystal growth rates, as well as of intra- and intermolecular interactions during retrogradation. A number of first-order kinetics models have been developed to fit starch digestograms, producing new information on the structural basis for starch digestive characteristics of cooked whole rice. Different starch digestible fractions with distinct digestion patterns have been found for the digestion of rice starch in fully gelatinized and retrograded states, the digestion kinetics of which are largely determined by starch fine molecular structures. Current insights and future directions to better understand digestibility of starch in whole cooked rice are summarized, pointing to ways of developing whole rice into a healthier food by way of having slower starch digestibility.

Abstract Background Starch branching enzymes (SBE) and granule-bound starch synthase (GBSS) are two important enzymes for starch biosynthesis. SBE mainly contributes to the formation of side branches, and GBSS mainly contributes for the synthesis of amylose molecules. However, there are still gaps in the understanding of possible interactions between SBE and GBSS. Results Nineteen natural rice varieties with amylose contents up to 28% were used. The molecular structure, in the form of the chain-length distribution (CLDs, the distribution of the number of monomer units in each branch) was measured after enzymatic debranching, using fluorophore-assisted carbohydrate electrophoresis for amylopectin and size- exclusion chromatography for amylose. The resulting distributions were fitted to two mathematical models based on the underlying biosynthetic processes, which express the CLDs in terms of parameters reflecting relevant enzyme activities. Conclusions Finding statistically valid correlations between the values of these parameters showed that GBSSI and SBEI compete for substrates during rice starch biosynthesis, and synthesis of amylose short chains involves several enzymes including GBSSI, SBE and SSS (soluble starch synthase). Since the amylose CLD is important for a number of functional properties such as digestion rate, this knowledge is potentially useful for developing varieties with improved functional properties.

Retrogradation of cooked rice happens in two ways: one is by the formation of ordered structures, and the other is through intra- and inter-chain entanglement and inter-chain overlap, which in turn are affected by the amylose chain-length distribution. Both entanglement and overlap could affect rice texture. Here, four amylose samples were isolated from starch by precipitation from a dimethyl sulfoxide solution with butan-1-ol and isoamyl alcohol. Following enzymatic debranching, they were then characterized using size-exclusion chromatography. Amylose solutions (10%, m/v) were made by dissolving amylose in 90% (v/v) DMSO. Amylose gels (10%, w/v) were made by dissolving amylose powders into hot water, followed by cooling. The rigidity of the amylose gels and the structural order were measured using a texture analyzer and X-ray diffractometer, respectively. In the amylose solution, for a given mass of polymer in a fixed amount of solvent, the total occupied volume was reduced when the polymer molecular weight was smaller, resulting in less inter-chain overlap and a lower viscosity of the amylose solution. The overall mobility and diffusion of the molecules were inversely related to the square of the molecular weight until the gelation concentration. Thus, amylose gels in which amylose had a lower molecular weight had a greater chance to permeate into other molecules, which counterintuitively led to more inter-chain entanglement and more rigid amylose gels during retrogradation. This information could help rice breeders improve rice quality by using the molecular structure of starch as a guide.

Summary: Type 2 diabetes incidence continues to increase rapidly. This disease is characterized by a breakdown in blood glucose homeostasis. The impairment of glycemic control is linked to the structure of glycogen, a highly branched glucose polymer. Liver glycogen, a major controller of blood sugar, comprises small β particles which can link together to form larger α particles. These degrade to glucose more slowly than β particles, enabling a controlled release of blood glucose. The α particles in diabetic mice are however easily broken down into β particles, which degrade more quickly. Because this may lead to higher blood glucose, understanding this diabetes-associated breakdown of α-particle molecular structure may help in the development of diabetes therapeutics. We review the extraction of liver glycogen, its molecular structure, and how this structure is affected by diabetes and then use this knowledge to make postulates to guide the development of strategies to help mitigate type 2 diabetes.

Recent work in early visual cortex of humans has shown that the BOLD signal exhibits contrast dependent orientation tuning, with an inverse oblique effect (oblique > cardinal) at high contrast and a horizontal effect (vertical > horizontal) at low contrast. This finding is at odds with decades of neurophysiological research demonstrating contrast invariant orientation tuning in primate visual cortex, yet the source of this discrepancy is unclear. We hypothesized that contrast dependent BOLD orientation tuning may arise due to contrast dependent influences of feedforward (FF) and feedback (FB) synaptic activity, indexed through gamma and alpha rhythms, respectively. To quantify this, we acquired EEG and BOLD in healthy humans to generate and compare orientation tuning curves across all neural frequency bands with BOLD. As expected, BOLD orientation selectivity in V1 was contrast dependent, preferring oblique orientations at high contrast and vertical at low contrast. On the other hand, EEG orientation tuning was contrast invariant, though frequency-specific, with an inverse-oblique effect in the gamma band (FF) and a horizontal effect in the alpha band (FB). Therefore, high-contrast BOLD orientation tuning closely matched FF activity, while at low contrast, BOLD best resembled FB orientation tuning. These results suggest that contrast dependent BOLD orientation tuning arises due to the reduced contribution of FF input to overall neurophysiological activity at low contrast, shifting BOLD orientation tuning towards the orientation preferences of FB at low contrast.

Cooked high-amylose rices, such as Australian wild rice (AWR) varieties, have slower digestion rates, which is nutritionally advantageous, but may have inferior eating qualities. Here, a comparison is made between sensory and starch molecular fine structure properties, and volatile compounds, of polished AWR varieties and some commercial rices (CRs). Starch structural parameters for amylopectin (Ap) and amylose (Am) were obtained using fluorophore-assisted capillary electrophoresis and size-exclusion chromatography. Volatile compounds were putatively using headspace solid-phase microextraction with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Sensory properties were evaluated by a trained panel. AWR had a disintegration texture similar to that of Doongara rice, while AWR had a resinous, plastic aroma different from those of commercial rice varieties. Disintegration texture was affected by the amounts of Ap short chains, resinous aroma by 2-heptenal, nonadecane, 2h-pyran, tetrahydro-2-(12-pentadecynyloxy)-, and estra-1,3,5(10)-trien-17β-ol, and plastic aroma by 2-myristynoyl pantetheine, cis-7-hexadecenoic acid, and estra-1,3,5(10)-trien-17β-ol. These findings suggest that sensory properties and starch structures of AWR varieties support their potential for commercialization.

Type 2 diabetes, a long-term chronic metabolic disease, causes severe and increasing economic and health problems globally. There is growing evidence that β-glucans can function as bioactive macromolecules that help control type 2 diabetes with minimal side effects. However, conflicting conclusions about the antidiabetic activities of β-glucans have been published, potentially resulting from incomplete understanding of their precise structural characteristics. This review aims to increase clarity on the structure–function relationships of β-glucans in treating type 2 diabetes by examining detailed structural and conformational features of naturally derived β-glucans, as well as both chemical and instrumental methods used in their characterization, and their underlying anti-diabetic mechanisms. This may help to uncover additional structure and function relationships and to expand applications of β-glucans.

Chromatin remodelling and transcription factors play important roles in lineage commitment and development through control of gene expression. Activation of selected lineage-specific genes and repression of alternative lineage-affiliated genes result in tightly regulated cell differentiation transcriptional programmes. However, the complex functional and physical interplay between transcription factors and chromatin-modifying enzymes remains elusive. Recent evidence has implicated histone demethylases in normal haematopoietic differentiation as well as in malignant haematopoiesis. Here, we report an interaction between H3K4 demethylase JARID1A and the haematopoietic-specific master transcription proteins SCL and GATA1 in red blood cells. Specifically, we observe a direct physical contact between GATA1 and the second PHD domain of JARID1A. This interaction has potential implications for normal and malignant haematopoiesis.

The pig is a well-studied model animal of biomedical and agricultural importance. Genes of this species, Sus scrofa, are known from experiments and predictions, and collected at the NCBI reference sequence database section. Gene reconstruction from transcribed gene evidence of RNA-seq now can accurately and completely reproduce the biological gene sets of animals and plants. Such a gene set for the pig is reported here, including human orthologs missing from current NCBI and Ensembl reference pig gene sets, additional alternate transcripts, and other improvements. Methodology for accurate and complete gene set reconstruction from RNA is used: the automated SRA2Genes pipeline of EvidentialGene project.

When wheat experiences a cold-temperature ‘shock’ during the late stage of grain filling, it triggers the abnormal synthesis of late-maturity α-amylase (LMA). This increases the enzyme content in affected grain, which can lead to a drastic reduction in falling number (FN). By commercial standards, a low FN is taken as an indication of inferior quality, deemed unsuitable for end-product usage. Hence, LMA-affected grains are either rejected or downgraded to feed grade at the grain receiving point. However, previous studies have found no substantial correlation between low FN-LMA and bread quality. The present study extends previous investigations to semi-solid food, evaluating the physical quality of fresh white sauce processed from LMA-affected flour. Results show that high-LMA flours had low FNs and exhibited poor pasting characteristics. However, gelation occurred in the presence of other components during fresh white sauce processing. This demonstrates that LMA-affected flours may have new applications in low-viscosity products.

Narrowly lanceolate leaves occur frequently in the genus Aster. It was often employed as a distinguishing character in the taxonomy of this genus. The origin of this particular leaf shape, however, has never been investigated using comparative methods. In this study, we reconstructed a comprehensive phylogeny that includes most species of Aster with narrowly lanceolate leaf. We then gathered data on riparian habitats and the presence or absence of narrowly lanceolate leaves, and investigated the evolutionary association between them in a phylogenetic context. Our analysis indicated that the species with narrowly lanceolate leaves are nested in unrelated lineages of the genus Aster, implying that they originated independently several times. Using Pagel’s comparative method of discrete data, we demonstrated a significant correlation between riparian habitats and narrowly lanceolate leaves. We further inferred the sequence of transition of the two characters. This analysis indicated that the sequence of evolution of riparian habitat and narrowly lanceolate leaf form was usually uncertain, but some positive results showed that the occurrence of riparian habitats may not precede the evolution of narrowly lanceolate leaf form. This study provided new insights into the adaptive evolution in a mega-diverse family. In addition, Aster tonglingensis, an unexpected new species with narrowly lanceolate leaves, was discovered and established based on the evidence from morphology, micromorphology and molecular phylogeny.

This paper examines if, in maize, starch structure and starch-dependent properties might be altered by pleiotropic effects arising from genetic modifications that are not directly related to starch synthesis. The molecular structure, specifically the starch chain-length distributions (CLDs), of two maize lines transformed with Bar (bialaphos resistance) and Cry1c genes (an artificial gene, encoding proteinaceous insecticidal δ-endotoxins) were compared to those of their control lines. The two transgenes are responsible for herbicidal resistance and insect tolerance, respectively. The starch CLDs were measured by enzymatic debranching and measuring the molecular weight distributions of the resulting linear chains. It was found that although all the lines had similar amylose contents, the CLDs of both amylopectin and amylose for Cry1c were noticeably different from the others, having more short amylopectin and long amylose chains. These CLDs are known to affect functional properties, and indeed it was found that the Cry1c transgenic lines showed a lower gelatinization temperature and faster digestion rate than the control or Bar lines. However, a slower digestion rate is nutritionally desirable. Thus, pleiotropic effects from genetic modifications can indirectly but significantly affect the starch synthesis pathway and thus change functional properties of significance for human health.