Abstract: The transportation and transformation of nutrient material occurring in developing anthers is not clear. The distribution features of polysaccharide and lipid in developing anthers of tomato were analyzed using histochemical method. Some starches appeared in connected somatic tissue of anther during the sporogenous cell stage. Before the meiosis of microspore mother cell，a thick polysaccharide callose wall was formed accompanying starch reduction in connected tissue. After meiosis，polysaccharide material in anther did not change in tetrad stage. After microspores were released from tetrad，the starches again increased in the connected cells，and polysaccharide material appears in the partial intine of pollen. At the late microspore stage，the microspore formed a large vacuole and contained neither lipid drop nor the starch，and only pollen wall displayed red polysaccharide. The amount of starches in connected somatic cells decreased. The tapetal cells changed form and degenerated. After microspore division，quite amount of lipids first appeared in bicellular pollen and then many starches following pollen development. With anther maturity，many lipids and some starches accumulated in epidermal cells. It is a characteristic of nutrient metabolism of tomato pollen that pollen first accumulated lipids and then starches，as well as mature pollen accumulated many starches and lipids simultaneously. The characteristic of nutrient metabolism in tomato pollen also displays species-specific in plants.

Key words: tomato, anther development, starch, polysaccharide, lipid