Contact
mistrabiotech@slu.se
018-672232
SLU calculates and reports emissions and uptake from Sweden's Land use, Land Use Change and Forestry sector (LULUCF).
The research programme Mistra Biotech started 2012 and involves about 60 researchers; natural scientists, ethicists, and social scientists. Most are at SLU but some work at KTH, Lund University, and other academic institutions.
Mistra Biotech is mainly funded by the Swedish Foundation for Strategic Environmental Research and SLU. Lantmännen, Graminor, and Lyckeby Starch AB contributes with additional support to specific subprojects.
What they contain and how healthy they are, for both humans and livestock, is of vital importance for how usable different crops are as food. This may concern nutritional content, composition of starch and fatty acids, or regard specific substances which are more or less beneficial if ingested
We have previously analysed the oil quality in seeds and larger components such as polysaccharides in the cell walls of the field cress. We are now continuing with other parts of the seed, examining the nutrition in the residual product (the seed cake) after oil extraction, in order to see if the seed cake can be used as animal feed. The composition of fibres plays an important part for the seed cake's nutritional value and pre-biotic properties.
We are also looking at different phenols which, for example, may have antioxidant properties. Certain phytosterols have proven to reduce the cholesterol value in blood and have previously shown that the field cress seeds contain high levels of these substances. Tocopherols (TCP, E-vitamins) are antioxidants that, besides being beneficial to us humans, are also of vital importance for the oil's stability. We analyse the glucosinolate content of the seed cake. Glucosinolates are substances that are poisonous at high levels, but that have positive effects at low levels.
Contact: Lena Dimberg
Starch in potatoes consists of amylose and amylopectin. Even small increases of amylose give a significantly lower glycemic index (GI), but the total GI value is also affected by the amount of available glucose in the potatoes. Therefore, we want to achieve a high starch level and at the same time maintain a high level of amylose. Earlier analyses of potatoes developed in the project do not only show a higher level of amylose, but also that the amylopectin had developed an interesting structure which should prove to be useful in the production of new, environmentally friendly plastics.
We are currently analysing the nutritional value of the starch with high amylose levels, and testing to what extent the special starch can resist enzymatic degradation. We are also characterising the two starch types to understand the connection between structure and function at molecular level.
Contact: Roger Andersson
mistrabiotech@slu.se
018-672232
Our other research projects:
Field cress - development of a new oilseed crop for the Nordic climate
Potatoes with improved resistance, altered starch quality and improved nutritional uptake
Pathogen resistance in oats and barley
Livestock breeding – modelling, genetic modification and gene editing
Development of molecular selection methods
Naturalness, autonomy and fairness
The public discourse on biotechnology
Mistra Biotech
Department of Crop Production Ecology, SLU
PO Box 7043 SE-750 07 Uppsala, Sweden
The Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, SLU, has its main locations in Alnarp, Umeå and Uppsala. SLU is certified to the ISO 14001 environmental standard. • Phone:+46 18-67 10 00 • VAT nr: SE202100281701 • Contact SLU • About SLU's websites