Barley systematics and taxonomy foreseen by seed morphometric variation.

Since its Neolithic domestication in the Fertile Crescent, barley has spread to all continents and represents a major cereal in many modern agrarian systems. Current barley diversity includes thousands of varieties divided into four main categories corresponding to 2-row and 6-row subspecies and naked and hulled types, each of them with winter and spring varieties. This diversity is associated to different uses and allow cultivation in diverse environments.

A laboratory protocol for determining glucose and maximum ethanol production from wheat grain: application to a complete genetic set of near-isogenic waxy lines.

A laboratory protocol was developed to assess glucose and ethanol yields from wheat. The impact of the analyzed wholemeal flour quantity and the saccharification on the amount of released glucose was estimated. The whole process including the analytical methods (glucose and ethanol) was repeatable and reproducible.

Proteomic and morphological analysis of early stages of wheat grain development.

The identification of 249 proteins in the first 2 wks of wheat grain development enabled the chronological description of the early processes of grain formation. Cell division involved expression of the enzymes and proteins of the cytoskeleton and structure, DNA repair and replication enzymes and cellular metabolism enzymes (synthesis of amino acids, cell wall initiation, carbon fixation and energy production, cofactors and vitamins) with a peak expression at 125 degrees C day (degrees day after anthesis). After the first synthesis of amino acids, protein transport mechanisms, translation signals, sugar metabolism (polymerization of protein) and stress/defence proteins were activated with stable expression between 150 and 280 degrees C day.

Extraction and proteome analysis of starch granule-associated proteins in mature wheat kernel (Triticum aestivum L.).

Starch consists of the two glucose polymers, amylose and amylopectin, and is deposited as semicrystalline granules inside plastids. The starch granule proteome is particularly challenging to study due to the amount of interfering compounds (sugars, storage proteins), the very low starch granule-associated protein content and also the dynamic range of abundant proteins. Here we present the protocol for extraction and 2-DE of wheat starch granule-associated proteins whose most important steps are: (i) washing and sonication to remove interfering compounds (storage proteins) from the surface of the granules, (ii) scanning electron microscopy (SEM) observations to monitor purification and granules swelling, (iii) appropriate protein extraction and solubilization to obtain enough proteins for Coomassie blue staining and proteomic analysis.