STARCH SYNTHESIS

A.

Plants produce sugars (glucose) from water and carbon dioxide through a process called photosynthesis.
The energy for that process comes from light, which is absorbed by a molecule called chlorophyll and transformed
into energy the plant can use for its biochemical processes. Once the sugars are produced, they are transformed
into insoluble macromolecules, called starch, for storage.

Starch is the most important storage polysaccharide in plants. All starch synthesized during the mainly
from cereals and potatoes. Starch apart from sucrose is also a primary product of photosynthesis deposited
transiently in the chloroplast in the form of insoluble granules. I2Kl test or Iodine test was used to determine the
presence of starch.

Fig. A.1 Beakers A, B and C before incubation Fig. A.2 Beakers A, B and C after incubation

Starch is composed of two polymers of glucose, amylopectin and amylose. If the starch amylose is
present, the I2KI will react to it and give a blue-black coloration. If there is no presence of amylose, the color will
stay yellow or orange. Amylopectin will give a purplish-red color if I2KI will be added.

Figure A.3 I2KI test for starch in leaves. A and C showed presence of starch due
to dark coloration in the leaves and B didn’t showed positive sign of starch

The leaves submerged in different solutions were used for bleaching. The leaves were boiled using ETOH
for about 30 minutes to 1 hour or until the leaves have become transparent. The leaves itself is also tested for the
presence of starch. Only the B didn’t showed positive result. In test conducted, the presence of starch was present
in the leaves particularly in A which is soaked in 5% glucose which is placed in the dark room and C which is soaked
only in distilled but it is placed in a well-lighted room. And also in the ETOH which is used in bleaching the leaves in
A showed positive result. Therefore, based on the experiment, the chlorophyll and light have a very important role
in the starch synthesis.

Green leaves would synthesize starch in the chloroplasts if floated on a sugar solution in the dark. (Bohm,
1883) Starch synthesis would occur in starch-free green leaves of many species if floated on solutions of soluble
carbohydrates in the dark. (Saposchnikoff, 1889 and Borkorny, 1897) But, the starch formation will just occur in
the chloroplasts if the concentration of carbohydrates is sufficiently high (Schimper, 1885 and Meyer, 1886). When
the concentration of the carbohydrates like glucose is sufficient, all chloroplasts with but expectations, starch will
form. (Winkler, 1898) The concentration of glucose necessary for starch formation varies widely for different
plants. (Spoehr, 1926) The transformation of sugar to starch is a very complicated, and the process depends not
only upon the concentration of sugar in the cytoplasm, but also upon the amount of an enzyme, the concentration
of which is controlled by unknown factor. (Lundegardh, 1914) The plant form starch in the dark when floated on
solutions not only glucose, fructose, galactose, mannosem sucrose and maltose but also of such alcohols as
mannitol, ducitol erythritol and glycerol (Spoehr, 1926).

By contrast, starch synthesis occurs within chloroplasts. The first step is a condensation of glucose-1-
phosphate with ATP. Starch synthase then transfers glucose residues from this molecule to the nonreducing end of
a pre-existing molecule of starch. Starch consists of two types of glucose polymer, namely amylose and
amylopectin. Amylose is a long, unbranched chain of D-glucose units connected via (1–4) linkages. Amylopectin is a
branched form, with (1–6) linkages forming branches approximately every 24–30 glucose residues.

REFERENCES:
Bohm, J. 1883. Uber Starkebildung aus Zucker. Bot. Zeit. 41: 33-38, 49-54.

Spoehr, H. A. 1926. "Photosynthesis." Chem. Catalog Co., New York

Winkler, Hans. 1898. Untersuchgen uber die Starkebildung in den verschiedenartigen Chromatophoren.
Jahrb. f. wiss. Bot. 32: 525-556.

Saposchnikoff, W. 1889. Die Starkebildung aus Zucker in den Laubblattern. Ber. deut. bot. Ges. 7: 259.
Bokorny, T. 1897. Uber die organische Ernahrung gruen Pflanzen und irhe Bedeutung in der Natur. Biol. Centralbl.
17: 1-20, 33-48.

Lundegardh, H. 1914. Einige Bedingungen der Bildung und Auflosung der Starke. Ein Beitrag zur Theorie
des Kohlenhydratstoffwechsels. Jahrb. f. wiss. Bot. 53: 421-463.

Schimper, A. F. W. 1885. Uber die Bildung und Wanderung der Kohlenhydrate in den Laubblattern. Bot.
Zeit. 43: 737-743, 753-763, 769-787.