Abstract
Relationships between glucosamine contents and nutritional disorder such as nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, and zinc deficiencies were investigated with tomato, radish, barley, and corn seedlings. Isolation, identification, and determination of glucosamine were carried out under the following conditions: a) for isolation-ion-exchange column chromatography with Amberlite CG-120 and 0.3 N HCl as an eluate; b) for identification-paper electrophoresis detected by Elson-Morgan reaction; and c) for determination-HPLC with ISC-07/S 1504 (Shimadzu) and citrate buffer (pH 4.25) as an eluate detected by fluorometry. Results obtained were as follows: 1) Glucosamine was detected from each of the cold-water-soluble, SDS-soluble, and SDS-insoluble fractions. 2) Glucosamine contents were higher in potassium-deficient plants but almost the same in nitrogen-deficient plants compared with that of the control plants. 3) In all plant species tested, the percentage glucosamine in cold-water -soluble fraction over total glucosamine was decreased but that in cold-water-insoluble fraction was increased by nutritional disorder such as nitrogen and phosphorus deficiencies. From these results it could be speculated that glucosamine in SDS-soluble and SDS-insoluble fractions should be combined with structural materials in plant cells and its contents should not be drastically affected by the nutritional disorder.
