ABSTRACT
Indonesia is arguably a major player in worldwide rice production. Though white rice is the most predominantly cultivated, red, brown, and red rice are also very common. These types of rice are known to have different cooking properties that may be related to differences in their starch properties. Investigating the starch properties, especially the fine structure of their amylopectin, can help understand these differences. This study aims to investigate the starch characteristics of some Indonesian rice varieties by evaluating the starch granule morphology and size, molecular characteristics, amylopectin unit and internal chain profiles, and thermal properties. Starches were extracted from white rice (long grain (IR-64) and short grain (IR-42)), brown rice, red rice, and black rice cultivated in Java Island, Indonesia. IR-42 had the highest amylose content of 39.34% whilst the black rice had the least of 1.73%. The enthalpy of gelatinization and onset temperature of the gelatinization of starch granules were between 3.2 and 16.2 J/g and 60.1 to 73.8 °C, respectively. There were significant differences between the relative molar amounts of the internal chains of the samples. The two white rice and black rice had a significantly higher amount of A-chains, but a lower amount of B-chains and fingerprint B-chains (Bfp) than the brown and red rice. The average chain length (CL), short chain length (SCL), and external chain length (ECL) were significantly longer for the red rice and the black rice in comparison to both the white rice amylopectins. The long chain length (LCL) and internal chain length (ICL) of the sample amylopectins were similar. Rice starches were significantly different in the internal structure but not as much in their amylopectin unit chain profile. These results suggest the differences in their amylopectin clusters and building blocks.
ABSTRACT
Structural nature of glucan chains in the amorphous part of granular starch was examined by iodine vapor treatment and lintnerization. Four iodine-stained amylose-containing normal starches and their waxy counterparts were examined under a microscope before, during, and after lintnerization. The presence of amylose retarded the lintnerization rate. The degree of retardation correlated with the structural type of the amylopectin component, suggesting that potato amylopectin (type 4 structure) interacts with amylose in the granules, whereas in barley granules (type 1 structure) the interaction is very weak. The inclusion complexes with iodine were not degraded by the acid treatment. Therefore, the iodine-glucan chain complex formation could be used to study the structural nature of the flexible, amorphous parts of the starch granules. Indeed, at the end of lintnerization, when 20%-30% of the granules remained, substantial amounts of blue-stained complexes were washed out from the granules especially from amylose-containing barley and maize starch, but also from both normal and waxy cassava and potato starch. The complexation with iodine did not affect the rate of lintnerization. This suggested that single helical structures were present during lintnerization also in the absence of iodine and this conformation was the reason for the acid resistance.
ABSTRACT
Exploring the sugar and amino acid content variability and the influence of thermal processing on these in soybeans can help optimize their utilization in animal feed. This study examined 209 samples harvested in 2020 and 55 samples harvested in 2021 from across the U.S. to assess their sugar variability and amino acid variability. Harvest regions included the East Corn Belt, West Corn Belt, Mid-South, East Coast, and the Southeast of the U.S. In addition to the sugar and amino acid contents, protein, oil, and seed size were also analyzed. Samples from 2021 were evaluated for their sugar and amino acid contents before and after autoclaving the seeds at 105-110 °C for 15 min. For the samples harvested in 2020, sucrose (4.45 g 100 g-1) and stachyose (1.34 g 100 g-1) were the most prevalent sugars. For the samples harvested in 2021, L-arginine (9.82 g 100 g-1), leucine (5.29 g 100 g-1), and glutamate (4.90 g 100 g-1) were the most prevalent amino acids. Heat treatment resulted in an 8.47%, 20.88%, 11.18%, and 1.46% median loss of free lysine, sucrose, glucose, and fructose. This study's insights into the variability in sugar and amino acid content and the heat-induced changes in the nutritional composition of soybeans provide a reference for improving soybean quality assessment and optimizing its use in animal feed formulations in the U.S.
ABSTRACT
This study introduces a novel machine learning methodology for predicting GlutoPeak test parameters from image data, leveraging AutoKeras and transfer learning. The GlutoPeak test is a tool used in the baking industry to evaluate the properties of flour, based on its gluten strength and elasticity. Our research aimed to devise an efficient and cost-effective technique for quantifying the gluten properties of wheat varieties. We aimed to accomplish this by predicting the GlutoPeak test results with convolutional neural network (CNN) models, utilizing the benefits of transfer learning and AutoKeras. AutoKeras is a public code repository capable of automating neural architecture search and hyperparameter tuning. The ResNet101 model, when trained with the Adam optimizer, achieved the highest accuracy of 0.5765 in the 2-class prediction. Meanwhile, the ResNet101 model trained with the SGD optimizer reached the highest accuracy of 0.4362 in the 4-class prediction. The outcomes of this study illustrate the possibility in using machine learning and deep learning techniques for predicting GlutoPeak test parameters from image data. This offers a faster and more cost-effective approach for evaluating gluten quality in wheat varieties.
ABSTRACT
Proanthocyanidins (PA) form poorly digestible complexes with starch. The study examined amylase degradation mechanism and hydrothermal stability of starch-PA complexes. Sorghum-derived PA was complexed with wheat starch, reconstituted into flour (10% gluten added) and processed into crackers and pancakes. In vitro digestion profile of the complexes and products were characterized. The starch-PA complexes retained more (34-84%) fragments with degree of polymerization (DP) > 6,000 after 120 min digestion than controls (0-21%). Debranching further revealed higher retention of DP 11 - 30 chains in the digested starch-PA complexes than controls, suggesting amylopectin complexation contributed to reduced starch digestion. Starch-PA complexes retained reduced digestibility (50-56% higher resistant starch vs controls) in the cracker, but not pancake model. However, removing gluten from the pancake formulation restored the reduced digestibility of the starch-PA complexes. The starch-PA complexes are stable to hydrothermal processing, but can be disrupted by hydrophobic gluten proteins under excess moisture conditions.
Subject(s)
Proanthocyanidins , Starch , Starch/chemistry , Amylases , Amylose/chemistry , Glutens , DigestionABSTRACT
High amylose and waxy starches from maize and potato were incubated with plasma-activated water (PAW) at 25 °C, 60 °C, and 80 °C temperatures to investigate PAW treatment effects on the starches' properties. At 60 °C incubation temperature, the starches were basically annealed with PAW. Annealing starches with PAW significantly increased (p < 0.05) the gelatinization parameters except for the enthalpy of gelatinization of waxy potato starch. Furthermore, starch swelling power significantly decreased while the water absorption capacity and solubility increased significantly when incubated at 80 °C. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis showed the oxidation of C-C/C-H and C-O into carboxyl groups in waxy and high amylose maize starches incubated with PAW at 60 °C and 80 °C, respectively. In addition, cross-linking was observed in waxy maize and high amylose potato incubated with PAW at 80 °C and 25 °C, respectively. Overall, the results indicated PAW temperature is an important factor in modifying cereals and tuber starches with PAW.
ABSTRACT
The TP53 gene is mutated in 80% of triple-negative breast cancers. Cells that harbor the hot-spot p53 gene mutation R273H produce an oncogenic mutant p53 (mtp53) that enhances cell proliferative and metastatic properties. The enhanced activities of mtp53 are collectively referred to as gain-of-function (GOF), and may include transcription-independent chromatin-based activities shared with wild-type p53 (wtp53) such as association with replicating DNA and DNA replication associated proteins like PARP1. However, how mtp53 upregulates cell proliferation is not well understood. wtp53 interacts with PARP1 using a portion of its C-terminus. The wtp53 oligomerization and far C-terminal domain (CTD) located within the C-terminus constitute putative GOF-associated domains, because mtp53 R273H expressing breast cancer cells lacking both domains manifest slow proliferation phenotypes. We addressed if the C-terminal region of mtp53 R273H is important for chromatin interaction and breast cancer cell proliferation using CRISPR-Cas9 mutated MDA-MB-468 cells endogenously expressing mtp53 R273H C-terminal deleted isoforms (R273HΔ381-388 and R273HΔ347-393). The mtp53 R273HΔ347-393 lacks the CTD and a portion of the oligomerization domain. We observed that cells harboring mtp53 R273HΔ347-393 (compared with mtp53 R273H full-length) manifest a significant reduction in chromatin, PARP1, poly-ADP-ribose (PAR), and replicating DNA binding. These cells also exhibited impaired response to hydroxyurea replicative stress, decreased sensitivity to the PARP-trapping drug combination temozolomide-talazoparib, and increased phosphorylated 53BP1 foci, suggesting reduced Okazaki fragment processing. IMPLICATIONS: The C-terminal region of mtp53 confers GOF activity that mediates mtp53-PARP1 and PAR interactions assisting DNA replication, thus implicating new biomarkers for PARP inhibitor therapy.
Subject(s)
Poly Adenosine Diphosphate Ribose , Tumor Suppressor Protein p53 , Tumor Suppressor Protein p53/genetics , Tumor Suppressor Protein p53/metabolism , Genes, p53 , Gain of Function Mutation , Poly (ADP-Ribose) Polymerase-1 , ChromatinABSTRACT
In this study, the effects of extrusion conditions such as feed moisture content (20%, 24%, and 28%), screw speed (200, 300, and 400 rpm), and extrusion temperature (130, 150, and 170°C) on the physical and functional properties (moisture content, expansion ratio, bulk density, hardness, water absorption index [WAI], water solubility index [WSI]) of intermediate wheatgrass (IWG) were investigated for the first time. Response surface methodology was used to model and optimize the extrusion conditions to produce expanded IWG. The model coefficient of determination (R2 ) was high for all the responses (0.87-0.98). All the models were found to be significant (p < 0.05) and were validated with independent experiments. Generally, all the extrusion conditions were found to have significant effects on the IWG properties measured. Increasing the screw speed and decreasing the extrusion temperature resulted in IWG extrudates with a high expansion ratio. This also resulted in IWG extrudates with generally low hardness and bulk density. Screw speed was found to have the most significant effect on the WAI and WSI, with increasing screw speed resulting in a significant (p < 0.05) decrease in WAI and a significant (p < 0.05) increase in WSI. The optimum conditions for obtaining an IWG extrudate with a high expansion ratio and WAI were found to be 20% feed moisture, 200 -356 rpm screw speed, and 130-154°C extrusion temperature. PRACTICAL APPLICATION: Extrusion cooking was employed in the production of expanded IWG. This research could provide a foundation to produce expanded IWG, which can potentially be used as breakfast cereals and snacks. This is critical in the efforts to commercialize IWG for mainstream food applications.
Subject(s)
Cooking , Food Handling , Chemical Phenomena , Cooking/methods , Food Handling/methods , Poaceae , Solubility , WaterABSTRACT
Native starches have limited applications in the food industry due to their unreactive and insoluble nature. Cold plasma technology, including plasma-activated water (PAW), has been explored to modify starches to enhance their functional, thermal, molecular, morphological, and physicochemical properties. Atmospheric cold plasma and low-pressure plasma systems have been used to alter starches and have proven successful. This review provides an in-depth analysis of the different cold plasma setups employed for starch modifications. The effect of cold plasma technology application on starch characteristics is summarized. We also discussed the potential of plasma-activated water as a novel alternative for starch modification. This review provides information needed for the industrial scale-up of cold plasma technologies as an eco-friendly method of starch modification.
ABSTRACT
The effect of carbon dioxide-argon radio frequency cold plasma treatment on the in vitro digestion and structural characteristics of granular and non-granular waxy maize, potato, and rice starches was investigated in this study. The effect on the fine structure of waxy potato was very minimal after plasma treatment irrespective of their granular or non-granular form. The short chain length (SCL) of waxy maize and rice (granular and non-granular) starches was reduced leading to subsequent increases in the long chain length (LCL). In vitro digestibility studies showed that cold plasma treatment enhanced (p < 0.05) the amount of slowly digestible starches (5.62%; 10.24%) and resistant starches (0.28%; 85.66%) in non-granular waxy maize (WMS NG) and granular waxy potato starches (WPS G), respectively. The amount of rapidly digestible starches increased in granular waxy maize starch (WMS G) (85.08%) but was unaffected in non-granular waxy rice (WRS NG), WPS G, and non-granular waxy potato starches after plasma treatment. FTIR-ATR data confirmed the ability of cold plasma to induce cross-linking in waxy starches specifically in WMS NG, WRS G, WRS NG, and WPS G. Overall, the unit and internal chain structure of the waxy starches were mostly unaffected by radio frequency plasma treatment. Cross-linking served as the dominant mechanism by which plasma altered the structure and digestibility of these starches. PRACTICAL APPLICATION: Cold plasma technology has been suggested as a green technique for starch modification. More research is, however, needed to facilitate the industrial scale up of this technology. In this study, we utilized a carbon dioxide-argon radio frequency cold plasma to modify waxy maize, rice and potato starches. Cold plasma treatment resulted in starches that were resistant to digestion and were highly cross-linked. The cross-linking would give the starches the ability to possibly withstand the high temperatures and shear that can be applied during industrial processing.
Subject(s)
Plasma Gases , Amylopectin , Hydrolysis , Starch , Waxes , Zea maysABSTRACT
The impact of plasma-produced reactive oxygen and nitrogen species, in particular O3, NxOy, H2O2 and OH, on the structure and functionality of pea protein isolate (PPI) was evaluated. Reactive species were produced through a combination of controlled measurements and plasma treatments. Pronounced structural and functional effects were observed upon treatment with reactive species at pH 2. All reactive species induced protein denaturation and the formation of disulfide-linked soluble aggregates. A significant increase in surface hydrophobicity and ß-sheet content was only induced by treatment with O3 and OH. These specific changes resulted in significant enhancement in gelation and emulsification. While H2O2 enhanced PPI color by increasing whiteness, it had the least impact on protein structure and functionality. Results of this work can be used to optimize cold atmospheric plasma treatment of PPI to induce specific structural changes and a directed enhancement in functionality.
Subject(s)
Pea Proteins , Plasma Gases , Hydrogen Peroxide , Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Interactions , Reactive Oxygen SpeciesABSTRACT
The TP53 gene is often mutated in cancer, with missense mutations found in the central DNA binding domain, and less often in the C-terminal oligomerization domain (OD). These types of mutations are found in patients with the rare inherited cancer predisposition disorder called Li-Fraumeni syndrome. We previously found that mutant p53 (mtp53) R273H associates with replicating DNA and promotes the chromatin association of replication-associated proteins mini-chromosome maintenance 2 (MCM2), and poly ADP-ribose polymerase 1(PARP1). Herein, we created dual mutants in order to test if the oligomerization state of mtp53 R273H played a role in chromatin binding oncogenic gain-of-function (GOF) activities. We used site-directed mutagenesis to introduce point mutations in the OD in wild-type p53 (wtp53), and mtp53 R273H expressing plasmids. The glutaraldehyde crosslinking assay revealed that both wtp53 and mtp53 R273H formed predominantly tetramers, while the single OD mutant A347D, and the dual mtp53 R273H-A347D, formed predominantly dimers. The R337C, L344P, mtp53 R273H-R337C, and mtp53 R273H-L344P proteins formed predominantly monomers. Wtp53 was able to activate the cyclin-dependent kinase gene p21/waf and the p53 feedback regulator MDM2. As expected, the transactivation activity was lost for all the single mutants, as well as the mtp53 R273H-dual mutants. Importantly, mtp53 R273H and the dual oligomerization mutants, R273H-A347D, R273H-R337C, and R273H-L344P were able to interact with chromatin. Additionally, the dual oligomerization mutants, R273H-A347D, R273H-R337C, and R273H-L344P, maintained strong interactions with MCM2 and PARP1. Our findings suggest that while mtp53 R273H can form tetramers, tetramer formation is not required for the GOF associated chromatin interactions.
ABSTRACT
KEY MESSAGE: Moisture content during nixtamalization can be accurately predicted from NIR spectroscopy when coupled with a support vector machine (SVM) model, is strongly modulated by the environment, and has a complex genetic architecture. Lack of high-throughput phenotyping systems for determining moisture content during the maize nixtamalization cooking process has led to difficulty in breeding for this trait. This study provides a high-throughput, quantitative measure of kernel moisture content during nixtamalization based on NIR scanning of uncooked maize kernels. Machine learning was utilized to develop models based on the combination of NIR spectra and moisture content determined from a scaled-down benchtop cook method. A linear support vector machine (SVM) model with a Spearman's rank correlation coefficient of 0.852 between wet laboratory and predicted values was developed from 100 diverse temperate genotypes grown in replicate across two environments. This model was applied to NIR spectra data from 501 diverse temperate genotypes grown in replicate in five environments. Analysis of variance revealed environment explained the highest percent of the variation (51.5%), followed by genotype (15.6%) and genotype-by-environment interaction (11.2%). A genome-wide association study identified 26 significant loci across five environments that explained between 5.04% and 16.01% (average = 10.41%). However, genome-wide markers explained 10.54% to 45.99% (average = 31.68%) of the variation, indicating the genetic architecture of this trait is likely complex and controlled by many loci of small effect. This study provides a high-throughput method to evaluate moisture content during nixtamalization that is feasible at the scale of a breeding program and provides important information about the factors contributing to variation of this trait for breeders and food companies to make future strategies to improve this important processing trait.
Subject(s)
Cooking/methods , Machine Learning , Spectroscopy, Near-Infrared , Water/analysis , Genetic Association Studies , Genotype , Zea mays/geneticsABSTRACT
Previous work indicated that bran removal promotes network formation in breads prepared from intermediate wheatgrass (IWG) flour. However, refinement reduces yields as well as contents of nutritionally beneficial compounds such as fiber. This study evaluated xylanase pretreatment of IWG bran as a processing option to enhance the properties of bread made with half of the original bran content. Xylanase pretreatment did not affect stickiness but significantly reduced hardness and increased specific loaf volumes compared to negative (without xylanase) and positive controls (with xylanase but without pretreatment). However, the surface of breads with pretreated bran was uneven due to structural collapse during baking. Fewer but larger gas cells were present due to pretreatment. Addition of ascorbic acid modulated these effects, but did not prevent uneven surfaces. Accessible thiol concentrations were slightly but significantly increased by xylanase pretreatment, possibly due to a less compact crumb structure. Endogenous xylanases (apparent activity 0.46 and 5.81 XU/g in flour and bran, respectively) may have been activated during the pretreatment. Moreover, Triticum aestivum xylanase inhibitor activity was also detected (193 and 410 InU/g in flour and bran). Overall, xylanase pretreatment facilitates incorporation of IWG bran into breads, but more research is needed to improve bread appearance.
ABSTRACT
We recently documented that gain-of-function (GOF) mutant p53 (mtp53) R273H in triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) cells interacts with replicating DNA and PARP1. The missense R273H GOF mtp53 has a mutated central DNA binding domain that renders it unable to bind specifically to DNA, but maintains the capacity to interact tightly with chromatin. Both the C-terminal domain (CTD) and oligomerization domain (OD) of GOF mtp53 proteins are intact and it is unclear whether these regions of mtp53 are responsible for chromatin-based DNA replication activities. We generated MDA-MB-468 cells with CRISPR-Cas9 edited versions of the CTD and OD regions of mtp53 R273H. These included a frame-shift mtp53 R273Hfs387, which depleted mtp53 protein expression; mtp53 R273HΔ381-388, which had a small deletion within the CTD; and mtp53 R273HΔ347-393, which had both the OD and CTD regions truncated. The mtp53 R273HΔ347-393 existed exclusively as monomers and disrupted the chromatin interaction of mtp53 R273H. The CRISPR variants proliferated more slowly than the parental cells and mt53 R273Hfs387 showed the most extreme phenotype. We uncovered that after thymidine-induced G1/S synchronization, but not hydroxyurea or aphidicholin, R273Hfs387 cells displayed impairment of S-phase progression while both R273HΔ347-393 and R273HΔ381-388 displayed only moderate impairment. Moreover, reduced chromatin interaction of MCM2 and PCNA in mtp53 depleted R273Hfs387 cells post thymidine-synchronization revealed delayed kinetics of replisome assembly underscoring the slow S-phase progression. Taken together our findings show that the CTD and OD domains of mtp53 R273H play critical roles in mutant p53 GOF that pertain to processes associated with DNA replication.
ABSTRACT
An essential prerequisite for the efficient biomechanical tailoring of crops is to accurately relate mechanical behavior to compositional and morphological properties across different length scales. In this article, we develop a multiscale approach to predict macroscale stiffness and strength properties of crop stem materials from their hierarchical microstructure. We first discuss the experimental multiscale characterization based on microimaging (micro-CT, light microscopy, transmission electron microscopy) and chemical analysis, with a particular focus on oat stems. We then derive in detail a general micromechanics-based model of macroscale stiffness and strength. We specify our model for oats and validate it against a series of bending experiments that we conducted with oat stem samples. In the context of biomechanical tailoring, we demonstrate that our model can predict the effects of genetic modifications of microscale composition and morphology on macroscale mechanical properties of thale cress that is available in the literature.
Subject(s)
Crops, Agricultural/physiology , Models, Biological , Plant Stems/physiology , Biomass , Biomechanical Phenomena , Cell Wall/genetics , Crops, Agricultural/ultrastructure , Elasticity , Mutation/genetics , Plant Stems/ultrastructure , X-Ray MicrotomographyABSTRACT
Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) has no targeted detection or treatment method. Mutant p53 (mtp53) is overexpressed in >80% of TNBCs, and the stability of mtp53 compared to the instability of wild-type p53 (wtp53) in normal cells makes mtp53 a promising TNBC target for diagnostic and theranostic imaging. We generated Cy5p53Tet, a novel nucleus-penetrating mtp53-oligomerization-domain peptide (mtp53ODP) to the tetramerization domain (TD) of mtp53. This mtp53ODP contains the p53 TD sequence conjugated to a Cy5 fluorophore for near-infrared fluorescence imaging (NIRF). In vitro co-immunoprecipitation and glutaraldehyde cross-linking showed a direct interaction between mtp53 and Cy5p53Tet. Confocal microscopy and flow cytometry demonstrated higher uptake of Cy5p53Tet in the nuclei of TNBC MDA-MB-468 cells with mtp53 R273H than in ER-positive MCF7 cells with wtp53. Furthermore, depletion of mtp53 R273H caused a decrease in the uptake of Cy5p53Tet in nuclei. In vivo analysis of the peptide in mice bearing MDA-MB-468 xenografts showed that Cy5p53Tet could be detected in tumor tissue 12 min after injection. In these in vivo experiments, significantly higher uptake of Cy5p53Tet was observed in mtp53-expressing MDA-MB-468 xenografts compared with the wtp53-expressing MCF7 tumors. Cy5p53Tet has clinical potential as an intraoperative imaging agent for fluorescence-guided surgery, and the mtp53ODP scaffold shows promise for modification in the future to enable the delivery of a wide variety of payloads including radionuclides and toxins to mtp53-expressing TNBC tumors.
Subject(s)
Antineoplastic Agents/pharmacology , Cell Nucleus/drug effects , Peptides/pharmacology , Triple Negative Breast Neoplasms/drug therapy , Tumor Suppressor Protein p53/metabolism , Animals , Apoptosis/drug effects , Cell Line, Tumor , Cell Proliferation/drug effects , Female , Humans , MCF-7 Cells , Mice , Mice, Nude , Mutation/drug effects , Triple Negative Breast Neoplasms/metabolismABSTRACT
Cold plasma (CP) is generated when an electrical energy source is applied to a gas, resulting in the production of several reactive species such as ultraviolet photons, charged particles, radicals and other reactive nitrogen, oxygen, and hydrogen species. CP is a novel, non-thermal technology that has shown great potential for food decontamination and has also generated a lot of interest recently for a wide variety of food processing applications. This review discusses the potential use of CP in mainstream food applications to ensure food safety. The review focuses on the design elements of cold plasma technology, mode of action of CP, and types of CP technologies applicable to food applications. The applications of CP by the food industry have been demonstrated for food decontamination, pesticide residue removal, enzyme inactivation, toxin removal, and food packaging modifications. Particularly for food processing, CP is effective against major foodborne pathogenic micro-organisms such as Listeria monocytogenes and Salmonella Typhimurium, Tulane virus in romaine lettuce, Escherichia coli O157:H7, Campylobacter jejuni, and Salmonella spp. in meat and meat products, and fruits and vegetables. However, some limitations such as lipid oxidation in fish, degradation of the oligosaccharides in the juice have been reported with the use of CP, and for these reasons, further research is needed to mitigate these negative effects. Furthermore, more research is needed to maximize its potential.
ABSTRACT
Understanding the contribution of stem cell wall components to lodging is important in developing breeding programs aimed at reducing lodging in cereal crops. This study is one of the first to investigate the correlation between the amounts of cell wall-bound ferulic acid, p-coumaric acid, and lignin in the nodes and internodes of cereals (oat, wheat, and barley) and their lodging susceptibility during grain fill. All samples, except two-row barley, were susceptible to lodging and expressed a significantly lower stalk strength. Lignin and phenolic contents between nodes and internodes of all samples were significantly different, with internodes having higher amounts (5.5-7.0 and 10.9-16.2 µg/g p-coumaric acid, and 2.5-3.2 and 3.9-7.1 µg/g ferulic acid in nodes and internodes, respectively). The acid-soluble lignin content was different between nodes and internodes but not between crops. This data set did not correlate with lodging classification, possibly due to sample size and type.