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Our project aimed to select European corn cultivars with the right kernel vitreousness for producing cornmeals geared to breakfast-cereal manufacture (cornflakes). Our research has shown that starch-lipid complexes, along with storage proteins, make excellent markers of corn endosperm (the seed's storage tissue) vitreousness. Here we studied the source of these lipids, and particularly lysophosphatidylcholine, during corn kernel endosperm development. By coupling MALDI imaging with the spatio-temporal expression of genes involved in lipid metabolism in the developing seed, we were able to forge a scenario connecting lipid trafficking in the endosperm, storage protein biosynthesis, and lipid metabolism in the starch. These findings set the stage for potential new strategies on the farming practice front and on the varietal selection front (nitrogen nutrition, resistance to environmental stressors), for controlling the lipid content of cereal-crop starches.

Publications

Gayral M, Fanuel M, Rogniaux H, Dalgalarrondo M, Elmorjani K, Bakan B, Marion D. (2018) The spatiotemporal deposition of lysophosphatidylcholine within starch granules of maize endosperm and its relationships to the expression of genes involved in endoplasmic reticulum-amyloplast lipid trafficking and galactolipid synthesis. Plant and Cell Physiology, doi:10.1093/pcp/pcy198

Gayral M, Elmorjani K, Dalgalarrondo M, Balzergue SM, Pateyron S, Morel MH, Brunet S, Linossier L, Delluc C, Bakan B, Marion D. (2017) Responses to hypoxia and endoplasmic reticulum stress discriminate the development of vitreous and floury endosperms of conventional maize (Zea mays) inbred lines. Frontiers in Plant Science, doi: 10.3389/fpls.2017.00557