Glycolipids of a halotolerant, moderately halophilic bacterium I. The effect of growth medium and age of culture on lipid composition

1. 1. Cells grown in high salt-nutrient broth contained approximately equal amounts of glucosylphosphatidylglycerol and a glucuronic acid containing glycolipid. When grown in a synthetic, high salt medium containing glucose as sole carbon source, the amount of glucosylphosphatidylglycerol was markedly reduced (from 14.3 to 5.1%) and the glucuronic acid-containing glycolipid accummulated instead (28%). A second glucuronic acid-containing glycolipid glucuronosyldiglyceride was also detected. 2. 2. Following the effect of age on lipid composition, it was found that whereas lipid bound phosphate hardly increased, lipid bound uronic acid increased approximately 6-fold. 3. 3. During stationary phase growth, phosphatidylglycerol was reduced and cardiolipin increased instead. 4. 4. Phosphatidylethanolamine isolated from 18-h cultures contained 12 and 25% of hexadecenoic and octadecenoic acids, respectively. In 48-h cultures only palmitic and cyclopropane acids were found. All the other polar lipids contained palmitic and cyclopropane acids, while diglycerides contained palmitic and monoenoic acids at all times studies.