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Molecular Plant Breeding, 2024, Vol. 15, No. 2 doi: 10.5376/mpb.2024.15.0008
Received: 30 Jan., 2024 Accepted: 05 Mar., 2024 Published: 17 Mar., 2024
Li Y.Z., 2024, Starch biosynthesis and engineering starch yield and properties in cassava, Molecular Plant Breeding, 15(2): 63-69 (doi: 10.5376/mpb.2024.15.0008)
Cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz), a perennial shrub but a root crop in Euphorbiaceae, produces a bulk of starch in the storage roots and serves as a staple food for millions of people in tropical and subtropical regions. Additionally, cassava starch is widely used in food processing and industrial sectors due to its unique physicochemical properties of swelling and solubility, gelatinization, retrogradation, pasting, and viscoelasticity. Up to now, the starch biosynthesis and improvement have been well reviewed by a large number of literature at different layers and aspects in other plant species/crops but the understanding is limited in cassava. Therefore, how to increase starch yield and improve starch properties has received great attention. This article briefly reviews plant starch biosynthesis, and complexity of starch biosynthesis, cases of engineering-based improvement of starch yield and properties, quantitative trait loci controlling starch yield and properties, challenges of breeding and engineering, and opportunities and future prospects in cassava.