'pseudostarchy' - a novel sweetcorn trait!

Hi everybody first thread yay

Recently I was listening to the lecture linked below, where at around the 23 minute mark the presenter discusses an nifty trait that, as far as I know, is still an academic curiosity yet to be explored further. Called 'pseudostarchy', it results in full non-wrinkly kernels when dry and mature. Sugar content is still around 10% as this is still homozygous recessive sugary (su) corn, but the starch synthesis which the sugary gene disables is restored through a workaround - if I understand correctly the multibranched polysaccharides that sweetcorn usually makes a lot of are instead replaced by starch. This strikes me as an interesting characteristic for home growers as it may result in a multipurpose corn, good for both fresh eating in the milk stage and grinding for (sweet!) cornmeal at maturity.

This was achieved by visual selection for the least wrinkled kernels over 7 generations and the presenter seems to think it wouldn't be too difficult to reproduce. Culinary qualities of a pseudostarchy corn would be interesting to explore. Texture when eaten fresh would surely be different, likely more suited to grilling than a light steaming. I'm curious how a sweetcorn taken in this direction would compare to non-sugary types that are reputed to be good for fresh eating, like Black Aztec or Hickory King.

Here is the lecture:
https://youtube.com/watch?v=yWFby0ZdKsI&t=22m56s

Hi everybody  first thread yay

 Thank you for your enthusiasm to share.
To think about: the various sugars, starches and fibers are just progressively longer more complex arrangements of the same compound.  As they get more complex they are not perceived by or taste buds.  So the selection of a multi purpose corn is to get one that delays formation of complex starch but will be mostly complex starch when mature.

Sounds interesting, be nice to taste it.

I select my sweet corn by looking for the wrinkled dry seeds. I guess you would have to have good separation to prevent cross pollination with this variety.