Extraction and Analysis of Soluble Carbohydrates

Soluble sugars are a universal component of most living organisms and a fundamental building block in biosynthetic processes. It is no wonder that both qualitative and quantitative changes in carbohydrates often accompany plant’s responses to stress. Depending on the speed of onset of stress, plant tissues can exhibit rapid and very site-specific shifts in their soluble carbohydrate pool – rapid and precise tissue collection and stabilization are necessary if analytical results are to truly represent the sugar composition at the instant of harvest. Since soluble carbohydrates are, by definition, soluble in the cell’s aqueous environment, they may be analyzed directly from liquids obtained from plants or they may require extraction from the plant matrix. During extraction and prior to analysis, steps should be taken to avoid change in form or quantity of sugars by endogenous active enzyme conversion or by contaminating microbial growth. Many procedures for soluble sugar analysis exist; the choice of the most appropriate analytical protocol is ultimately dictated by the depth of information required to substantiate findings for a particular purpose.