Multicellular living organisms and unmodified parts thereof and – Method of introducing a polynucleotide molecule into or... – The polynucleotide alters fat – fatty oil – ester-type wax – or...
Reexamination Certificate
1996-11-20
2001-05-15
Mosher, Mary E. (Department: 1648)
Multicellular living organisms and unmodified parts thereof and
Method of introducing a polynucleotide molecule into or...
The polynucleotide alters fat, fatty oil, ester-type wax, or...
C800S263000, C800S264000, C800S276000, C800S284000, C800S287000, C800S320100
Reexamination Certificate
active
06232529
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates generally to modifying seed composition. Specifically, the present invention relates to increasing the concentration of oil in seed.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
On average, 20% of corn produced in the U.S. is used for domestic food and industrial purposes including wet milling. In 1995, American farmers produced 7.4 billion bushels of corn, 20.6% of which was refined by the corn wet milling industry into more than 51 billion pounds of product.
Material output from the corn wet milling process includes starch for direct use or chemical modification, starch used as a degradative feedstock for the manufacture of an abundance of ancillary products, and coproducts/byproducts such as gluten feed, gluten meal and corn oil. As the list of products containing corn derived ingredients grows, so does the percentage of the U.S. crop that is utilized by the wet milling industry.
The central component critical in the direct, or indirect, use of corn for many products is starch. Interestingly, however, in some instances the unit value of coproducts exceeds that of starch. Such is the case with corn oil, having a value of approximately $0.23/lb, compared to $0.126/lb for starch (ERS 1995; ERS 1995). Corn wet millers rely on credits obtained from coproduct isolation and sale to minimize the net cost of the corn they grind for starch recovery. The monetary value realized by the isolation and sale of oil, or oil containing products (e.g., dry germ), is an important portion of these coproduct credits. Furthermore, because of the high unit value of oil, the coproduct credit for this material is more sensitive to changes in refining yield than all other coproducts.
In recognizing the importance and value of constituents isolated from grain in the wet milling process, it is useful to be aware of the starting composition of the grain and its parts. On a whole grain dry weight basis (db), corn is composed of the following primary constituents of economic importance: 4.0% oil, 9.7% protein, 69.8% starch, 3.5% sugars and 5.9% fiber. Similarly, the average composition of component parts of unprocessed grain is as follows: (1) the germ (defined as the organ inclusive of the scutellum and embryo proper) comprises 11.9% of the whole kernel and contains 34% oil, 8.2% starch, 18.8% protein, 10.8% sugar and 10.1% ash, and (2) the endosperm comprises 82% of the whole kernel and contains 86% starch, 9.4% protein, 0.8% oil and 0.6% sugar (Earle, F. R., J. J. Curtis, et al., “Composition of the Component Parts of the Corn Kernel”;
Cereal Chem.;
Vol. 23(5); pp. 504-511; 1946; incorporated herein in its entirety by reference). By calculation, Earle, et al., (1946), have determined that 84% of the seed oil is found in the germ and 98% of the kernel starch is located in the endosperm.
The purpose of the wet milling process is to fractionate the kernel and isolate chemical constituents of economic value into their component parts. This pertains specifically to starch, which is fractionated into a highly purified form. Other materials are typically isolated in crude forms (e.g., unrefined oil) or as a wide mix of materials which commonly receive little to no additional processing beyond drying. Hence, in the wet milling process grain is softened by steeping and cracked by grinding to release the germ from the kernels. The germ is separated from the heavier density mixture of starch, hulls and fiber by “floating” the germ segments free of the other substances in a centrifugation process. This allows a clean separation of the oil-bearing fraction of the grain from tissue fragments that contain the bulk of the starch. Since it is not economical to extract oil on a small scale, many wet milling plants ship their germ to large, centralized oil production facilities. Oil is expelled or extracted with solvents from dried germs and the remaining germ meal is commonly mixed into corn gluten feed (CGF), a coproduct of wet milling. Typical composition of spent germ cake, the germ material remaining after oil is extracted, is 20% starch, 25% protein, 1% fat, 10% crude fiber and 25% pentosans (Anderson, R. A. and S. A. Watson, “The Corn Milling Industry”;
CRC Handbook of Processing and Utilization in Agriculture;
A. Wolff, Boca Raton, Fla., CRC Press, Inc.; Vol. 11; Part 1;
Plant Products:
31-61; 1982; incorporated herein in its entirety by reference). Hence, starch contained within the germ is not recovered as such in the wet milling process and is channeled to CGF. The unit value of CGF is roughly 20% that of corn oil and 50% that of corn starch. While increasing the oil content in seed, it is desirable that endosperm size and hence, starch content not be reduced because it is helpful if starch revenues are also maintained.
Current research indicates that genetic selection in maize can lead to increased oil content in the embryo, but that the resultant genotype is associated with reduced starch production. See e.g. Doehlert and Lanibert, “Metabolic Characteristics Associated with Starch, Protein, and Oil Deposition in Developing Maize Kennels”;
Crop Sci.;
Vol. 32; pp. 151-157; (1991); incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.
The central importance of starch to plant development and to food, feed, and industrial markets has motivated researchers across many years to look for mechanisms which control starch biosynthesis. Mutants of maize which affect seed starch deposition have been instrumental in characterizing the biochemistry of starch synthesis. Considerable research effort continues to explore the metabolic systems involved in synthesizing starch, but in addition molecular techniques are being used to dissect genes which encode enzymes known to be critical in starch biosynthesis. In discovering which regions of the genes encode metabolism-controlling aspects of the enzymes, scientists are beginning to manipulate starch metabolism through genetic engineering. Interest in controlling starch biosynthesis through molecular and genetic techniques has intensified significantly in recent years and several recent reviews describe fundamental aspects of starch biosynthesis and/or how they may be manipulated in transgenic plants, see e.g. Hannah, L. C., M. Giroux et al, “Biotechnological Modification of Carbohydrates for Sweet Corn and Maize Improvement”;
Scientia Horticulturae;
Vol. 55; pp. 177-197; 1993; Smith, A. M. and C. Martin, “Starch Biosynthesis and the Potential for its Manipulation”;
Biosyn. And Manipulation of Plant Products;
D. Grierson; Vol. 3; pp. 1-54; 1993; Visser, R. G. F. and E. Jacob, “Towards Modifying Plants for Altered Starch Content and Composition”;
Trends In Biotechnology;
Vol. 11; pp. 63-68; 1993; Muller-Rober, B. and J. Kossmann, “Approaches to Influence Starch Quantity and Starch Quality in Transgenic Plants”;
Plant Cell Environ.;
Vol. 17; pp. 601-613; 1994; Bhullar, S. S., “Bioregulation of Starch Accumulation in Developing Seeds”;
Current Science;
Vol. 68(5); pp. 507-516; 1995; Morell, M. K., S. Rahan, et al., “The Biochemistry and Molecular Biology of Starch Synthesis in Cereals”;
Aust. J. Plant Physiol.;
Vol. 647-660; 1995; Nelson, O. and D. Pan, “Starch Synthesis in Maize Endosperms”;
Plant Physiol.;
Vol. 46; pp. 475-496; 1995; Wasserman, et al., “Biotechnology: Progress Toward Genetically Modified Starches”
Cereal Foods World;
Vol. 40(11); pp. 810-817; 1995; all incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.
Sucrose is considered to be the primary metabolite utilized in the synthesis of starch, although seed grown in vitro with the reducing sugars, glucose or fructose, also produce starch. In simple terms, the sugars are converted into the sugar nucleotides, ADP-glucose and UDP-glucose, either directly or via phosphorylated carbohydrate intermediates. The sugar nucleotides are substrates for the synthase enzymes which polymerize the glucosyl portion of the molecules into long chains of glucose. The polymers remain essentially linear (amylose) or become branched (amylopectin) and combine in a specific fashion to become gr
Anderson Paul C.
Coughlan Sean J.
Singletary George
Mosher Mary E.
Pioneer Hi-Bred International , Inc.
Pioneer Hi-Bred International Inc.
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