Distribution of unusual polyamines in aquatic plants and gramineous seeds

Abstract

We tested several plants for the occurrence of unusual polyamines such as homospermidine, aminopropylhomospermidine, norspermidine, norspermine, thermospermine, and caldopentamine. The leaf and root of aquatic plants ubiquitously contained homospermidine in addition to usual polyamines such as putrescine, spermidine, spermine, and cadaverine. Homospermidine was widely distributed in the seed, seedling, leaf, and root of gramineous plants such as rice, millet, oat, rye, wheat, barley, corn, sorghum, and timothy as a minor polyamine. Aminopropylhomospermidine was found in the two aquatic plants, the water lily Nymphaca tetragona and the lotus Nelumbo nucifera as a major polyamine, and in the gramineous seeds as a minor polyamine. Norspermidine, norspermine, homospermine, and caldopentamine were detected in two floating aquatic plants, the duckweed Spirodela polyrhiza and the water hyacinth Eichhornia crassipes. Thermospermine was sporadically detected in some aquatic plants and gramineous seeds. Key words: Gramineae, aquatic plant, polyamine, homospermidine, caldopentamine.