Enzymatic Starch Quantification in Developing Flower Primordia of Sweet Cherry
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Date
2025
Authors
Santolaria Llacer, Nestor IbónFadón Adrián, Erica
Rodrigo García, Francisco Javier
Hedhly, Afif
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articleArticle
Abstract
Starch is a carbohydrate widely used in the plant kingdom as a fuel for different physiological processes. While different techniques are available for the quantification of starch stored in seeds and bark tissues, they have hardly been used to quantify starch content in developing flower buds, where starch has been reported to accumulate in different reproductive organs. Here, we detail a quantitative enzymatic method to measure starch concentration in developing flower primordia in sweet cherry (Prunus avium L.). First, starch is enzymatically hydrolyzed to D-glucose, which was then quantified by an enzyme-coupled assay involving hexokinase (HK) and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) and spectrophotometric quantification of NADH absorbance at 340 nm. This method is a sensitive, rapid, and affordable protocol specifically optimized for tiny flower buds with low starch content. The technique is revealed to successfully determine starch content in non-freshly harvested samples—frozen and stored at -20 °C or stored in fixatives—allowing a temporal separation of sampling and quantification and making the protocol suitable for high-throughput experimental designs in different fields of plant research.
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Bibliographic citation
Santolaria, N., Fadón, E., Rodrigo, J., & Hedhly, A. (2025). Enzymatic Starch Quantification in Developing Flower Primordia of Sweet Cherry. BIO-PROTOCOL, 15(1368). https://doi.org/10.21769/BioProtoc.5256
AGROVOC subjects
Prunus aviumÁrboles frutales
Análisis enzimático
Primordios foliares
Espectrofotometría de llama
Other field subjects
Análisis EnzimáticoÁrboles frutales
Espectrofotometría
Primordios Foliares
Prunus avium
Sponsorship
Este trabajo fue financiado por el proyecto de I+D+i PID2020-115473RR-I00, financiado por MICIU/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 y el Gobierno de Aragón – Fondo Social Europeo, ‘El FSE invierte en tu futuro’ [Grupo Consolidado A12–17R].