Cereal Chem 57:129 - 132.  |  VIEW ARTICLE
A Simple Colorimetric Method for Zein Determination in Corn and Its Potential in Screening for Protein Quality.

A. Esen. Copyright 1980 by the American Association of Cereal Chemists, Inc. 

A method based on the quantitative binding of Coomassie Brilliant Blue R-250 to proteins spotted on Whatman No. 1 chromatography paper was used to determine zein in 60% tertiary butanol extracts from whole corn kernel powders. The normal and opaque-2 versions of six inbreds could be easily distinguished on the basis of their zein content, opaque-2 genotypes having a consistently lower percentage of zein than their normal counterparts. The method is specific for protein (zein) and has potential uses as a quantitative and semiquantitative tool in mass screening of germ plasm sources and single seeds for protein quality.