Isoforms of starch branching enzyme II (SBE-IIA and SBE-IIB) from wheat
A class of wheat SBEII genes, called SBEII-1, can be used to influence properties of starch produced by a plant, including the gelatinization temperature of the starch. Such a starch is useful, for example, in certain industrial applications for the preparation or processing of foodstuffs such as bakery products.
1. An isolated nucleotide sequence comprising SEQ ID NO:3.
2. A nucleic acid construct comprising a nucleotide sequence comprising SEQ ID NO:3.
3. A construct according to claim 2 , wherein the sequence is operably linked, in sense or antisense orientation, to a promoter sequence.
4. An expression vector comprising a construct according to any one of claims 2 or 3 .
5. A host cell into which has been introduced a construct according to any one of claims 2 or 3 .
6. A method of altering the starch characteristics of a wheat plant, comprising introducing into the genome of the wheat plant a sequence comprising SEQ ID NO:3 operably linked to a suitable promoter which is active in the wheat plant.
7. A method according to claim 6 , wherein the sequence is linked in the antisense orientation to the promoter.
8. A method according to any one of claims 6 or 7 , wherein the altered starch characteristics relate to the starch content and/or starch composition of the plant.
9. A wheat plant, or progeny of said wheat plant, altered by the method of any one of claims 6 or 7 and comprising the introduced sequence.
10. A part or cell of a wheat plant according to claim 9 .
11. A storage organ from a wheat plant according to claim 9 .
12. A wheat plant according to claim 9 , or part or cell thereof, containing starch having an elevated gelatinisation onset and/or peak temperature as measured by DSC compared to starch from an unaltered plant.
13. A method of making altered starch, comprising altering a wheat plant by the method of any one of claims 6 or 7 , and extracting therefrom starch having altered properties compared to starch extracted from unaltered wheat plants.