Abstract
Soybean seedlings were grown at 28°C in the dark or the light for 12 days, and four classes of sterol lipids, sterol esters (SE), free sterols (St), acylated steryl glycosides (ASG) and steryl glycosides (SG), were isolated from the cotyledons by solvent extractions, Florisil column chromatography, and thin-layer chromatography (TLC), successively. Each sterol lipid (SE, ASG and SG) obtained was hydrolyzed and then separately divided into sterol, fatty acid and/ or sugar fractions. The hydrolysates and St were analyzed mainly by gas-liquid chromato-graphy (GLC).
Under the two conditions tested, the main sterol lipid class was St during germination, the minor one being SG. With the progress of germination, St and ASG decreased under both conditions tested, whereas SE and SG increased, especially SE in the light-grown seedlings. The changing patterns of sterol and sugar compositions of ASG resembled those of SG, but those of fatty acid composition differed between SE and ASG. In general, the changes in fatty acid compositions of SE and ASG were more marked in the light-grown seedlings than in the dark-grown ones.
