In the Activity 1 lab, you observed higher starch content in starchy corn seeds. What causes this difference?
Watch the following animations that show what happens in the cells of starchy and sugary corn seeds. How does the protein (enzyme) shape determine whether the corn ends up with more starch or more sugar?
Record your ideas about the following in your idea basket.
- How are the proteins/enzymes in the two types of corn different?
- Why does the shape of the functional starch-producing protein cause starch to be produced, but not in sugary corn?
- Why does the shape of the non-functional starch-producing protein cause sugar to remain unlinked in sugary corn, but not in starchy corn?
- Which cellular structure creates the proteins/enzymes?
- What molecule provides the instructions for creating the proteins/enzymes?