it is difficult to quantify the accurate proportion of the two chain categories. Only chains with DP 2 were therefore considered to represent pure (or “true”) a-chains, and chains with DP ~4 were considered “true” b-chains. When starch granules developedfrom the pre-physiological maturity stage to the maturity stage, thenumber of true a-chains increased in A-type granules but decreasedin B-type granules. This finding suggested that the mode of branching by SBE, or alternatively trimming by DBE