Exotic Corn Lines with Increased Resistant Starch and Impact on Starch Thermal Characteristics

Ten parent corn lines, including four mutants (dull sugary2, amylose-extender sugary2, amylose-extender dull, and an amylose-extender with introgressed Guatemalen germplasm [GUAT ae]) and six lines with introgressed exotic germplasm backgrounds, were crossed with each other to create 20 progeny crosses to increase resistant starch (RS) as a dietary fiber in corn starch and to provide materials for thermal evaluation. The resistant starch 2 (RS2) values from the 10 parent lines were 18.3-52.2% and the values from the 20 progeny crosses were 16.6-34.0%. The %RS2 of parents was not additive in the offspring but greater RS2 in parents was correlated to greater RS2 in the progeny crosses (r = 0.63). Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) measured starch thermal characteristics, revealing positive correlations of peak gelatinization temperature and change in enthalpy with %RS2 (r = 0.65 and r = 0.67, P <= 0.05); however, % retrogradation (a measure of RS3) and retrogradation parameters did not correlate with %RS2. The %RS2 and onset temperature increased with the addition of the ae gene, likely because RS delays gelatinization.