title: Identification of high β-glucan oat lines and localization and chemical characterization of their seed kernel β-glucans.
abstract: Oat, (Avena sativa) is an excellent source of mixed linkage β-glucans ((1→3)(1→4)-β-D-glucan), a dietary fibre with cholesterol lowering properties. Using a mutagenized oat-population we screened 1700 different lines and identified ten lines that displayed β-glucan levels above 6.7% and 10 below 3.6%.The extreme values were 1.8% and 7.5%. We chose six lines with an increased- and four lines with a reduced β-glucan content for further study. By longitudinal- and cross-sections of seeds it was shown that localization of β-glucan varied between the different lines. In addition, β-glucan quality parameters like molecular weight and solubility were also determined. Although the selection was designed for quantitative differences, qualitative differences between the β-glucans from the different lines were found. The high and low β-glucan lines will now be used as a model system to study molecular regulation of β-glucan biosynthesis as well as possible links between fibre quality and biological activity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology and Environmental Sciences, University of Gothenburg, Box 461, SE-40530 Gothenburg, Sweden. per.sikora@gu.se
authors.forename: Per
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Sikora
authors.forename: Susan M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Tosh
authors.forename: Yolanda
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Brummer
authors.forename: Olof
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Olsson
mesh_terms: D018554:Avena / Q000737:chemistry*; D015394:Molecular Structure; D008970:Molecular Weight; D012639:Seeds / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D012995:Solubility; D047071:beta-Glucans / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D047071:beta-Glucans