Implications of recent research on microstructure modifications, through heat-related processing and trait alteration to bio-functions, molecular thermal stability and mobility, metabolic characteristics and nutrition in cool-climate cereal grains and other types of seeds with advanced molecular techniques

ABSTRACT

The cutting-edge synchrotron radiation based and globar-sourced vibrational infrared microspectroscopy have recently been developed. These novel techniques are able to reveal structure features at cellular and molecular levels with the tested tissues being intact. However, to date, the advanced techniques are unfamiliar or unknown to food and feed scientists and have not been used to study the molecular structure changes in cool-climate cereal grain seeds and other types of bio-oil and bioenergy seeds. This article aims to provide some recent research in cool-climate cereal grains and other types of seeds on molecular structures and metabolic characteristics of carbohydrate and protein, and implication of microstructure modification through heat-related processing and trait alteration to bio-functions, molecular thermal stability and mobility, and nutrition with advanced molecular techniques- synchrotron radiation based and globar-sourced vibrational infrared microspectroscopy in the areas of (1) Inherent microstructure of cereal grain seeds; (2) The nutritional values of cereal grains; (3) Impact and modification of heat-related processing to cereal grain; (4) Conventional nutrition evaluation methodology; (5) Synchrotron radiation-based and globar-sourced vibrational (micro)-spectroscopy for molecular structure study and molecular thermal stability and mobility, and (6) Recent molecular spectroscopic technique applications in research on raw, traits altered and processed cool-climate cereal grains and other types of seeds. The information described in this article gives better insights of research progress and update in cool-climate cereal grains and other seeds with advanced molecular techniques.

KEYWORDS:

• Cool-climate seeds
• heat-related processing
• interactive association between structure and nutrition
• molecular Structures
• Molecular Thermal Stability and Mobility
• Nutrient Utilization and Availability

Acknowledgments

The SRP feed Chair (PY) research programs have been supported by the Ministry of Agriculture Strategic Research Chair Program, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC-Individual Discovery Grants and CRD Grants), the Saskatchewan Agriculture Development Fund (ADF), SaskCanola, SaskMilk, Saskatchewan Forage Network (SNK), Saskatchewan Pulse Producers, Western Grain Research Foundation (WGRF), Prairie Oat Growers Association (POGA), Foshan University international research collaboration support at College of Life Science and Engineering, Various Feed and Livestock Industries etc.

The National Synchrotron Light Source in Brookhaven National Laboratory (NSLS-BNL, New York, USA) and Advanced Light Source in Berkeley National Laboratory (ALS-BNL) are supported by the U.S. Department of Energy. Canadian Light Source Inc. at University of Saskatchewan (Saskatoon, Canada) is supported by various Canadian federal and provincial funds. The authors are grateful to Lisa Miller for synchrotron beamtime support at ALS and NSLS, discussion and/or collaborations, and Randy Smith (NSLS-BNL, New York) and Hans Bechtel (ALS, Berkeley) for helpful synchrotron data collection at ALS and NSLS.