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Phenolic components and degradability of the cell walls of the brown midrib mutant, bm 3 , of Zea mays
Author(s) -
Hartley Roy D.,
Jones Edwin C.
Publication year - 1978
Publication title -
journal of the science of food and agriculture
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.782
H-Index - 142
eISSN - 1097-0010
pISSN - 0022-5142
DOI - 10.1002/jsfa.2740290906
Subject(s) - lignin , ferulic acid , cell wall , cellulase , mutant , chemistry , cultivar , zea mays , p coumaric acid , botany , stem and leaf display , cellulose , food science , biochemistry , biology , agronomy , gene
Cell walls separated from the leaf blade, leaf sheath and stem of the brown midrib mutant, bm 3 , of Zea mays were more degradable by a commercial cellulase than the corresponding part of the isogenic normal inbred cultivar ( Tr ). The walls of each part of the mutant when compared with the corresponding part of the normal cultivar contained less lignin and bound phenolic components released by treatment with NaOH. The major phenolic components detected were trans ‐ p ‐coumaric and trans ‐ferulic acids together with small amounts of their cis isomers and diferulic acid. Cell walls of stem of the mutant contained a total of 17.3 mg g −1 of these bound acids compared with 9.8 mg g −1 for leaf sheath and 3.5 mg g −1 for leaf blade: there was more than twice as much p ‐coumaric acid in cell walls of stem as in those of leaf sheath and more than seven times as much as in those of leaf blade. When cell walls of the stem from the mutant or the normal cultivar were treated with NaOH their degradability by cellulase was highly correlated with the amounts of phenolic components released by the alkali.