Cover Picture: Starch ‐ Stärke 3–4/2017

Cover Issue 3: A new type of mutant is isolated from japonica rice by Yasunori Nakamura and co‐workers in article number 1600159 : it is referred to as the sugary ‐2 mutant. In this new mutant type, the starch is replaced by iodine–non‐stained water‐soluble glucans that are lacking in the cluster structure like the sugary ‐1 mutant phytoglycogen in the central part of the seed. The study suggests that the Sugary ‐2 gene product plays an important role in amylopectin synthesis of rice endosperm and identifi es a new factor that controls the normal amylopectin structure, especially at the early developmental stage of the endosperm.