An image processing method for investigating the morphology of cereal endosperm cells.

In cereal seeds, the number, morphology and development of endosperm cells are closely related to grain quality, weight and yield. Endosperm cells differ morphologically in different regions of the seed. Nevertheless, it is important to be able to analyze the morphology of cereal endosperm cells. We established an image processing method to enhance the outlines of endosperm cells. The endosperm cell wall was traced precisely using the "pen tool" in Photoshop software (PS). The tracing was defined as the "work path" and was highlighted using the PS "brush tool." Images of mature rice, maize and wheat endosperm sections stained with different methods were analyzed using this method. Combined with the whole sections of mature and developing cereal kernels, the processed image exhibited clearly the morphology of endosperm cells in any region of endosperm and at any stage of endosperm development. The processed image was more accurate and efficient for analyzing morphological characteristics than the unprocessed image.

ESIM: Edge Similarity for Screen Content Image Quality Assessment.

In this paper, an accurate full-reference image quality assessment (IQA) model developed for assessing screen content images (SCIs), called the edge similarity (ESIM), is proposed. It is inspired by the fact that the human visual system (HVS) is highly sensitive to edges that are often encountered in SCIs; therefore, essential edge features are extracted and exploited for conducting IQA for the SCIs. The key novelty of the proposed ESIM lies in the extraction and use of three salient edge features-i.e., edge contrast, edge width, and edge direction. The first two attributes are simultaneously generated from the input SCI based on a parametric edge model, while the last one is derived directly from the input SCI. The extraction of these three features will be performed for the reference SCI and the distorted SCI, individually. The degree of similarity measured for each above-mentioned edge attribute is then computed independently, followed by combining them together using our proposed edge-width pooling strategy to generate the final ESIM score. To conduct the performance evaluation of our proposed ESIM model, a new and the largest SCI database (denoted as SCID) is established in our work and made to the public for download. Our database contains 1800 distorted SCIs that are generated from 40 reference SCIs. For each SCI, nine distortion types are investigated, and five degradation levels are produced for each distortion type. Extensive simulation results have clearly shown that the proposed ESIM model is more consistent with the perception of the HVS on the evaluation of distorted SCIs than the multiple state-of-the-art IQA methods.

Different structural properties of high-amylose maize starch fractions varying in granule size.

Large-, medium-, and small-sized granules were separated from normal and high-amylose maize starches using a glycerol centrifugation method. The different-sized fractions of normal maize starch showed similar molecular weight distribution, crystal structure, long- and short-range ordered structure, and lamellar structure of starch, but the different-sized fractions of high-amylose maize starch showed markedly different structural properties. The amylose content, iodine blue value, amylopectin long branch-chain, and IR ratio of 1045/1022 cm(-1) significantly increased with decrease of granule size, but the amylopectin short branch-chain and branching degree, relative crystallinity, IR ratio of 1022/995 cm(-1), and peak intensity of lamellar structure markedly decreased with decrease of granule size for high-amylose maize starch. The large-sized granules of high-amylose maize starch were A-type crystallinity, native and medium-sized granules of high-amylose maize starch were CA-type crystallinity, and small-sized granules of high-amylose maize starch were C-type crystallinity, indicating that C-type starch might contain A-type starch granules.

Heterogeneous structure and spatial distribution in endosperm of high-amylose rice starch granules with different morphologies.

Starch granules from high-amylose cereal mutants or transgenic lines usually have different morphologies. It is not clear whether the structure and spatial distribution of starch granules with different morphologies in endosperm is homogeneous or heterogeneous. In the present study, the structure and spatial distribution in endosperm of morphologically different starch granules from high-amylose transgenic rice line (TRS) were investigated. The TRS endosperm had individual, aggregate, elongated, and interior hollow starch granules. The individual and interior hollow granules had the lowest and the highest amylose content and gelatinization resistance, respectively, among the four types of granules. The individual granules were mainly distributed in the middle of the endosperm; the aggregate granules in the starchy endosperm cells between the subaleurone layer and the middle of the endosperm; the elongated granules in the peripheral starchy endosperm cells adjacent to the subaleurone layer; and the interior hollow granules in the subaleurone layer cells.

Morphology, structure and gelatinization properties of heterogeneous starch granules from high-amylose maize.

High-amylose cereal endosperm is rich in heterogeneous starch granules. In this paper, we investigated the morphology, structure and gelatinization properties of high-amylose maize endosperm starch. Starch had individual, aggregate and elongated heterogeneous granules. Most of individual granules were round with small size and had one central hilum. Aggregate and elongated granules consisted of many subgranules with central hila, and had irregular and rod/filamentous shapes, respectively. Iodine stained starch granules showed five types of polarization colors: blue, purple, fuchsia, dark red, and interior dark blue and exterior brown. Most of individual and aggregate granules had the color of dark red, that of elongated granules the color of interior dark blue and exterior brown. Amylose was mainly distributed in the hilum region and the circumference of starch granules. Aggregate and elongated granules had higher amylose content than individual granules. Elongated and individual granules had the highest and the lowest gelatinization resistance among high-amylose maize heterogeneous starch granules, respectively.

Crystalline and structural properties of acid-modified lotus rhizome C-type starch.

The crystalline and structural properties of acid-modified C-type starch from lotus rhizomes were investigated using a combination of techniques. The degradation of granule during hydrolysis began from the end distant from the hilum and then propagated into the center of granule, accompanied by loss of birefringence. The crystallinity changed from C-type to A-type via CA-type during hydrolysis. At the early stage of hydrolysis, the amylose content substantially reduced, the peak and conclusion gelatinization temperatures increased, and the enthalpy decreased. During hydrolysis, the double helix content gradually increased and the amorphous component decreased, the lamellar peak intensity firstly increased and then decreased accompanied by hydrolysis of amorphous and crystalline regions. This study elucidated that B-type allomorph was mainly arranged in the distal region of eccentric hilum, A-type allomorph was mainly located in the periphery of hilum end, and the center of granule was a mixed distribution of A- and B-type allomorphs.

Structural and functional properties of C-type starches.

This study investigated the structural and functional properties of C-type starches from pea seeds, faba bean seeds, yam rhizomes and water chestnut corms. These starches were mostly oval in shape with significantly different sizes and contents of amylose, damaged starch and phosphorus. Pea, faba bean and water chestnut starches had central hila, and yam starch had eccentric hilum. Water chestnut and yam starches had higher amylopectin short and long chain, respectively. Water chestnut and faba bean starches showed CA-type crystallinities, and pea and yam starches had C-type crystallinities. Water chestnut starch had the highest swelling power, granule swelling and pasting viscosity, lowest gelatinization temperatures and enthalpy. Faba bean starch had the lowest pasting viscosity, whereas yam starch had the highest gelatinization temperatures. Water chestnut and yam starches possessed significantly higher and lower susceptibility to acid and enzyme hydrolysis, the highest and lowest RDS contents, and the lowest and highest RS contents, respectively.

Allomorph distribution and granule structure of lotus rhizome C-type starch during gelatinization.

The allomorph distribution and granule structure of C-type starch from lotus rhizomes were investigated using a combination of techniques during gelatinization. The disruption of crystallinity during gelatinization began from the end distant from the eccentric hilum and then propagated into the center of granule. The periphery of hilum end was finally gelatinized, accompanied by high swelling. The crystallinity changed from C-type to A-type via CA-type during gelatinization, and finally became amorphous structure. The amylose content, crystal degree, helix content, ratio of 1045/1022cm(-1), and peak intensity of crystalline lamellae of gelatinizing starch significantly decreased after 70°C. The amorphous content and ratio of 1022/995cm(-1) increased after 70°C. This study elucidated that B-type allomorph was mainly arranged in the distal region of eccentric hilum, A-type allomorph was mainly located in the periphery of hilum end, and the center of granule was a mixed distribution of A- and B-type allomorphs.

In situ observation of crystallinity disruption patterns during starch gelatinization.

Twelve starches were isolated from the tuberous root of sweet potato, the rhizomes of lotus and yam, the tuber of potato, the corm of water chestnut, and the seeds of pea, bean, barley, wheat, lotus, water caltrop, and ginkgo. Their gelatinization processes were in situ viewed using a polarizing microscope in combination with a hot stage. Four patterns of crystallinity disruption during heating were proposed. The crystallinity disruption initially occurred on the proximal surface of the eccentric hilum, on the distal surface of the eccentric hilum, from the central hilum, or on the surface of the central hilum starch granule. The patterns of initial disruption on the distal surface of the eccentric hilum and on the surface of the central hilum starch were reported for the first time. The heterogeneous distribution of amylose in starch granule might partly explain the different patterns of crystallinity disruption and swelling during gelatinization.

Physicochemical properties of rhizome starch from a traditional Chinese medicinal plant of Anemone altaica.

This study investigated the physicochemical properties of rhizome starch of A. altaica for the first time. The results were compared to those obtained from two common starches (potato and rice). The rhizome had a starch content of 49.8%. Isolated starch granules were mostly oval in shape with a central Maltese cross and an average long axis of 6.25 µm. The starch contained 35.5% amylose and had lower gelatinization and pasting temperatures than rice and potato starches and a swelling power comparable to potato. Altaica starch had high breakdown and setback viscosities. X-ray diffraction revealed B-type starch with relative degree of crystallinity of 17.5%. Starch possessed a high susceptibility to hydrolysis by acid, porcine pancreatic α-amylase and Aspergillus niger amyloglucosidase when compared with potato and rice starches.