Amino millet

Barbeau, W. E. and Hilu, K. W. (1993). Protein, calcium, iron and amino acid content of selected wild and domesticated cultivars of finger millet. Plant Foods Hum. Nutr. 43,97-104. 

Campos, F. A. P. and Richardson, M. (1983). The complete amino acid sequence of the bifunctional a-amylase/trypsin inhibitor from seeds of ragi (Indian finger millet, Eleusine coracana Gaertn.). FEBS Lett. 152, 300-304. 

Malleshi, N. G. and Klopfenstein, C. F. (1998a). Nutrient composition and amino acid contents of malted sorghum, pearl millet and finger millet and their milling fractions. J. Food Sci. Technol. 35,247-249. 

Sripriya, G., Antony, U., and Chandra, T. S. (1997). Changes in carbohydrate, free amino acids, organic acids, phytate and HC1 extractability of minerals during germination and fermentation of finger millet (Eleusine coracana). Food Chem. 58,345-350. 

Starbursvik, A. and Heide, O. M. (1974). Protein content and amino acid spectrum of finger millet (Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertn) as influenced by nitrogen and sulfur fertilizers. Plant Soil 41,549-571. 

To a medium having a composition of 6.4 % of millet jelly, 0.5 % of glucose, 3.5 % of soybean powder, 0.75 % of corn steep liquor, 0.3 % of sodium chloride, 0.1 % of potassium secondary phosphate, 0.05 % of zinc sulfate, 0.01 % of copper sulfate, 0.2 % of sodium nitrate and 0.01 % of Toho No. 1 (trade name for a surface active agent composed of polyoxyethylene manufactured by Toho Chemical Industry Co. Ltd., Japan) was added 3-amino-propyl-dimethylsulfonium bromide hydrobromate in a proportion of 0.4 mg/ml to adjust the pH of the medium to 6.5. 

The nonprotein amino acid, / -aminobutyric acid (BABA) protected Arabidopsis against the oomycete pathogen Peronospora parasitica through activation of natural defence mechanisms of the plant such as callose deposition, the hepersensitive response, and the formation of the trailing necroses [158]. Seed treatment with BABA also shown to protect Pennisetum glaucum (pear millet) systematically from the attack of Sclerospora graminicola [159]. 

Less research has been carried out on millets than on other cereals. Nutritional quality is one area of priority. Like other cereals, millet has low contents of essential amino acids. For example, pearl millet contains in the order of 3 g lysine/100 g protein, whereas the World Health Organization recommends a minimum of 5.5 g/100 g. On the plus side, millets do not contain gluten proteins, so they are safe for those with celiac disease. Millets are low in certain minerals, including calcium. 

The inhibitor has been purified using a modification of the scheme of Millet and Gregoire [2] (Table 2) plus a final fractionation on a reverse phase HPLC column employing an n-butanol gradient (in 0.1% trifluoroacetic acid). The amino acid composition differs somewhat from inhibitors of E. coli or Streptomyces (Table 3) but they are probably all of the same general class in that they contain a low percentage of cysteine and are active on either subtilisin (E. coli and Streptomyces) or related serine proteases [8],... 

This is a larger variety of millet widely grown in Africa and Asia. Its protein contains less of the S-containing amino acids and it has a high leucine content which may have an adverse effect when intakes of tryptophan and nicotinic acid are low. 

This dietary deficiency disease is due to lack of the vitamin niacin or of the amino acid tryptophan (which is converted in the E)ody to nicotinic acid). It usually afflicts people whose dietary protein comes mainly from maize (corn) (which is deficient in both nicotinic acid and tryptophan). Also, it occurs in areas of India where the diet consists mainly of a millet called Jowar (Sorghum vulgare) without any animal foods. Some alcoholics and persons with disorders of abrsorp-tion have also been found to have the disease. 

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