• Journal of Plant Biology
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.219-225
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• 1995

Five kinds of 4-demethylsterol were isolated from suspension cultured cells of a liverworth, Marchantia polymorpha. Four 4-demethylsterols among them were analyzed by a capillary gas chromatography-massspectrometry and 500 MHz 1H-NMR, and characterized to be avenasterol, 24-methylene-cholesterol, stigmasterol, and campesterol. And the fifth 4-demethylsterol was characterized to be sitosterol by a capillary gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The concentration of the 4-demethylsterols in the cell decreased in order of avenasterol>stigmasterol>24-methylene-cholesterol>campesterol>sitosterol. When carbon skeleton and the oxidation state was compared with those of brassinosteroids, these 4-demethylsterols may be potent biosynthetic procusors of brassinosteroids in the cells.