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.
Cellular polyamines of 18 species（13 genera）belonging to the delta and epsilon subclasses of the class Proteobacteria were analyzed by HPLC and GC. In the delta subclass, the four marine myxobacteria（the order Myxococcales） , Enhygromyxa salina, Haliangium ochroceum, Haliangium tepidum and Plesiocystis pacifica contained spermidine. Fe （III）-reducing two Geobacter species and two Pelobacter species belonging to the order Desulfuromonadales contained spermidine. Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus was absent in cellular polyamines. Bacteriovorax starrii contained putrescine and spermidine. Bacteriovorax stolpii contained spermidine and homospermidine. Spermidine was the major polyamine in the sulfate-reducing delta proteobacteria belonging to the genera Desulfovibrio, Desulfacinum, Desulfobulbus, Desulfococcus and Desulfurella, and some species of them contained cadaverine. Within the epsilon subclass, three Sulfurospirillum species ubiquitously contained spermidine and one of the three contained spermidine and cadaverine. Thiomicrospora denitrificans contained cadaverine and spermidine as the major polyamine. These data show that cellular polyamine profiles can be used as a chemotaxonomic marker within delta and epsilon subclasses.
