Diurnal ciianges in the starcii and sugars of tobacco leaves

After the classical study of Smirnow (1) for tobacco leaves much less attention has been paid to diurnal changes in the starch and sugars. Mizuno et al. (2) and Matheson et al. (3) also investigated the diurnal changes in the starch of the leaves, which were confined to the starch, excluding the ethanol-soluble sugars such as glucose, fructose and sucrose. Recent advances in analytical chemistry have been applicable to the investigation. Further study of the starch and sugars seems to be of importance from the viewpoint of carbohydrate metabolism in tobacco plants. The present communication deals with diurnal changes in the starch, glucose, fructose and sucrose in tobacco leaves.