Recent developments in methods and instrumentation have contributed to major advances in the understanding of the fine structure of amylopectin in the starch granule. We argue that a holistic approach to understanding starch biosynthesis uses structural analysis data to guide enzymology studies. Therefore, to fully investigate the structure of amylopectin, the granule structure, as well as fine structure, were characterized by using enzymatic and chromatographic techniques. Understanding amylopectin structure would greatly support the application and commercialization of starch on a larger scale.

There are four main objectives in this research:

1. Analysis of the fine structure of amylopectin clusters.
2. Effects of amylopectin clusters on molecular structure of starch.
3. Effects of amylopectin clusters on physicochemical properties of starch.
4. Correlation between amylopectin clusters and enzymatic hydrolysis.