INOSITOL 



5. P. R. Burkholder and D. Moyer, Bull Torrey Bot. Club., 1943, 70, 



372 ; P. R. Burkholder, Amer. J. Bot., 1943, 30, 206 ; P. R. 

 Burkholder, I. McVeigh and D. Moyer, /. Bad., 1944, 48, 385. 



6. A. S. Schultz and L. Atkin, Arch. Biochem., 1947, 14» 369- 



13. INOSITOL IN HIGHER PLANTS 



The inositol content of oats, wheat, barley and maize increased 

 considerably during germination. ^ 



Soil and natural manures were found to contain inositol, as well as 

 aneurine, biotin, pyridoxine and ^-aminobenzoic acid.^ 



References to Section 13 



1, P. R. Burkholder, Science, 1943, 97, 562. 



2. M. A. Roulet, Experientia, 1948, 4, 149. 



14. INOSITOL REQUIRE2V1ENTS OF INSECTS 



According to G. Fraenkel and M. Blewett,^ inositol is of only slight 

 value in the nutrition of Tribolium confusum and Ptinus tectus and of 

 no importance in the nutrition of other beetles investigated. Neverthe- 

 less, inositol may be of significance in the economy of insects, for R. E. 

 Slade 2 suggested that the potent insecticide, lindane (Gammexane), the 

 active component of which is the y-isomer of 1:2:3:4:5: 6-hexa- 

 chlorocyclohexane, may be due to interference with a process involving 

 meso-mosiiol, to which, of course, it bears a formal resemblance. 

 S. Kirkwood and P. H. Phillips ^ did, in fact, show that the inhibition 

 of yeast by lindane, but not of other inhibitory hexachlorocyclo- 

 hexanes that were without insecticidal properties, was reversed by 

 meso-inositol, and Burton et al.'^ showed that the growth of Nemato- 

 spora gossypii was retarded by lindane in presence of small but 

 not large amounts of m^so-inositol. The results suggested that other 

 compounds related to m^so-inositol might have an insecticidal action, 

 but neither the hexamethyl ether nor the mono-acetyl-pentamethyl 

 ether of w^so-inositol had more than a slight toxic action on flies. ^ 



In addition to its toxic action on insects and micro-organisms, 

 lindane produces mitosis in higher plants. Its mitotic action on 

 Allium Cepa was inhibited by meso-inositol, but not by ^-inositol or 

 D-sorbitol.® On the other hand, so was the mitotic action of col- 

 chicine, so that the phenomenon can hardly be regarded as an example 

 of a metabolite-anti-metabolite relationship. Again, W. H. Schopfer 

 and his colleagues ' were unable to confirm the existence of an antag- 

 onistic action of weso-inositol towards lindane, either with E. 



578 



