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Updated: Sep 3, 2026

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Quantifying Plant Soluble Protein and Digestible Carbohydrate Content, Using Corn (Zea mays) As an Exemplar
Published on: August 6, 2018
Extraction of starch by dimethyl sulfoxide and quantitation by enzymatic assay
Analytical Biochemistry
|February 15, 1987
Abstract:
A method for the rapid, sensitive, and specific determination of starch in plant tissues is described. Starch from a variety of plant tissues is solubilized by stirring for 24 h or by sonication for 40 min in dimethyl sulfoxide. Dilution of this extract to less than 20% dimethyl sulfoxide permits a nearly complete hydrolysis of the starch in less than 3 h with glucoamylase from Rhizopus niveus. Quantitation of liberated glucose by a coupled hexokinase and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase method provides an additional degree of specificity.

