Word: endosperm
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...rice grains as an appropriate target for gene scientists like Potrykus to tackle because it lay beyond the ability of traditional plant breeding to address. For while rice, like other green plants, contains light-trapping beta-carotene in its external tissues, it does not produce beta-carotene in its endosperm (the starchy interior part of the rice grain that most people...
...like Potrykus to tackle because it lay beyond the ability of traditional plant breeding to address. For while rice, like other green plants, contains light-trapping beta-carotene in its external tissues, no plant in the entire Oryza genus--as far as anyone knew--produced beta-carotene in its endosperm (the starchy interior part of the rice grain that is all most people...
Whole grains contain all three parts of the kernel: the bran, which is packed with fiber and B vitamins; the carbohydrate-rich core, or endosperm; and the germ, which is also full of B vitamins as well as other micronutrients. Finely milling the grains produces a flour that lacks the bran and the germ, leaving only the endosperm behind. Manufacturers enrich their refined products with some of the missing vitamins, but researchers suspect that it's the combination of everything--the fiber, the vitamins, the minerals and, no doubt, other as yet undiscovered nutritional ingredients--that makes whole grains healthy...
Sure, if you are a popcorn nut, you know that some types of corn are great poppers and others aren't. But do you know why? Have you assessed the thermal diffusivity of the pericarp, the kernel's tough outer layer? Have you analyzed the starch content of the endosperm, the inner, meaty layer? Have you compared the ratios of expanded to original volumes of various kernels? If so, you would know that the pericarp in popcorn has more densely packed fiber than that of ordinary corn. You'd know that starch content is less important. You needn't bother...
...consumption of sunflower seeds there are several schools of thought. Biologists, I regret to say, dissect them. "Commonly referred to as a seed," intones the laboratory instructor, "the fruit is an achene (uh-KEEN). Make a longitudinal section, and note the massive embryo, the large, fleshy cotyledons. Is any endosperm present?" And without looking to see, he slips one into his mouth...
| 1 |