The relationship between amylopectin fine structure and the physicochemical properties of starch during potato growth

The aim of this study was to explore the relationship between the structural and functional properties of starch isolated from Atlantic potatoes at different stages of growth without the effect of varieties and growth environment. The molecular size and chain-length distribution of amylopectin significantly varied with growth. The M-w and M-n of amylopectin ranged from 2.976 x 10(7) to 4.512 x 10(7) g/mol and 1.275 x 10(7) to 2.295 x 10(7) g/mol, respectively, suggested that the polydispersity varied with growth. The average chain length of amylopectin during potato growth showed small but significant changes and ranged from DP 23.59 to 24.73. Overall, A(fp) chains, A(crystal) chains, and B1 chains increased with growth, and B2 and B3 chains decreased with growth. There was wide variation in starch pasting, gelatinization, retrogradation, in vitro starch digestibility, swelling power, solubility, and gel stability properties. Specifically, potato starch harvested at the earliest time had the highest resistant starch content. The variation trend of swelling power and solubility was similar, reached highest value at 42 days, were 20.38 g/g and 8.83%, respectively. Correlation analysis revealed that the physicochemical properties were significantly affected by amylopectin fine structure. The results of this study enhance our understanding of the structure-function relationship of potato starch. (C) 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

The relationship between the structural and functional properties of starch isolated from Atlantic potatoes at different growth stages was explored in this study, with significant variations observed in molecular size and chain-length distribution of amylopectin. Overall, different starch chains showed different trends during potato growth, and physicochemical properties were significantly affected by amylopectin fine structure.