Starch-deficient maize mutant lacking adenosine dephosphate glucose pyrophosphorylase activity.

The maize mutant shrunken-2 synthesizes only 25 to 30 percent as much starch as normal maize; it completely lacks adenosine diphosphate glucose pyrophosphorylase activity in both endosperm and embryo tissue. Identification of the mutant block indicates that the greater portion of starch in the endosperm of normal maize is synthesized by way of enzyme systems that utilize adenosine diphosphate glucose as a substrate, and that the latter is formed chiefly by adenosine diphosphate glucose pyrophosphorylase.