BAMBOO BORER DUST AS A RICH SOURCE OF GLUCOSE-1-PHOSPHATE

Chemical characterization of bamboo borer dust (BED) indicated that it contained 2.5 +/- 0.5% of an organic entity that was a water-soluble, acid-labile phosphate, nonreducing sugar with a retention period of 5 .2 min on a sugar pack column during high pressure liquid chromatograp hy (HPLC). It was subsequently identified and confirmed as glucose-1-p hosphate (G-1-P) from its response to phosphoglucomutase and glucose-6 -phosphatase treatment. Although the presence of G-1-P in such a large quantity in BED is inexplicable, it provides a rare and rich source o f G-1-P, making it a potential starting material for its isolation in pure state.