Understanding Starch Metabolism in Pea Seeds towards Tailoring Functionality for Value-Added Utilization

Abstract

Starch is the most abundant storage carbohydrate and a major component in pea seeds, accounting for about 50% of dry seed weight. As a by-product of pea protein processing, current uses for pea starch are limited to low-value, commodity markets. The globally growing demand for pea protein poses a great challenge for the pea fractionation industry to develop new markets for starch valorization. However, there exist gaps in our understanding of the genetic mechanism underlying starch metabolism, and its relationship with physicochemical and functional properties, which is a prerequisite for targeted tailoring functionality and innovative applications of starch. This review outlines the understanding of starch metabolism with a particular focus on peas and highlights the knowledge of pea starch granule structure and its relationship with functional properties, and industrial applications. Using the currently available pea genetics and genomics knowledge and breakthroughs in omics technologies, we discuss the perspectives and possible avenues to advance our understanding of starch metabolism in peas at an unprecedented level, to ultimately enable the molecular design of multi-functional native pea starch and to create value-added utilization.

Organic Pea Starches – I. Comprehensive Investigation of Morphological and Molecular Properties

“…Besides protein, legumes, especially peas, have a high content of starch (≈30%-50%) [2,3] which is assumed to consequently become available in larger quantities. [1,4] Starch is a polymeric carbohydrate which consists of two major fractions. Amylose (AM), a mainly linear polymer of anhydroglucose units conjoint with 𝛼-1,4glycosidic bonds, and amylopectin (AP), which refers to a highly branched polymer with 𝛼-1,4-glycosidic bonds (linear chain segments) and 𝛼-1,6-glycosidic bonds (branching points).…”

“…[8,15,[17][18][19] It is also reported that pea starch tends to cause manufacturing problems more often than other starches, rendering its application less attractive. [4,18,20] A possible explanation for these problems is seen in the underestimated variation of the characteristics between different pea starch varieties. These might be bigger than for other sources or more critical to applications.…”

“…In line with this the need for systematic studies on the physicochemical, molecular, and functional properties of pea starches from different varieties was already formulated. [4] The molecular composition of native starches is usually not considered when trading starch in the food industry. Specifications typically include moisture content and microbial contamination.…”

A comprehensive evaluation of pea germplasm resources based on cluster analysis and grey relational analysis

“…Pea is the most widely cultivated legume in temperate zones (Wille et al 2021) and forms an integral part of the human diet in many countries for its abundant nutritional value. Pea is an essential source of highquality proteins, starch, micronutrients, dietary bers, phenolic compounds, and antioxidants (Kaur and Dhar 2019; Tarasevičienė et al 2019;Yu et al 2021). However, due to the existence of protease inhibitors such as α-amylase inhibitors, phytic acid, saponin, and other anti-nutritional factors, inappropriate intake of the pea can have adverse effects on human health, which signi cantly limits its application in a broader range (Boukid et al 2021;Qi et al 2021).…”

Editorial: Functional Genomics in Plant Breeding 2.0

“…To fill the gap in our understanding of the genetic mechanisms underlying starch metabolism and its relationship with its physicochemical and functional properties, Yu et al [14] summarized the starch biosynthetic pathway in peas and starch granule structure, and its connection with functional properties and industrial applications. They also described that the identification and characterization of novel genes and novel allelic variations in known genes might provide further gene targets for increasing our understanding of starch metabolism to design multifunctional native pea starch for custom modulating starch composition and structure and, thus, functionality.…”