Changes in the sterollipids and sphingolipids of Adzuki bean (Vigna angularis) seeds during maturation were examined. Major component sterols in sterollipids, acylsterol (AS), free sterol (FS), sterylglycoside (SG) and acylsterylglycoside (ASG) were usually sitosterol and stigmasterol, the latter being minor in AS. Although the sterol composition of AS was roughly constant during maturation, this parameter for FS, SG and ASG showed remarkable change; the proportion of stigmasterol increased while that of sitosterol decreased. Associated fatty acid and sphingoid compositions of ceramide differed remarkably from those of cerebroside at any stage of seed development. The major ceramide species of cerebroside could usually be identified by reversed-phase HPLC as N-2-hydroxypalmitoyl-trans-4, trans-8-sphingadienine during maturation.
