Lipid composition of the halotolerant alga, Dunaliella bardawil

Dunaliella bardawil, a halotolerant unicellular alga capable of accumulating large amounts of β-carotene, contains 30% of its total carbon content as lipids. These lipids are equally divided between neutral and polar lipids. The major neutral lipid component is β-carotene. The polar lipid fraction is composed of (in descending order) monogalactosyl- and digalactosyldiacylglycerol, trimethylhomoserine diacylglycerol, sulfoquinovosyldiacylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylethanolamine. The following fatty acids were identified: palmitic, 3-trans-hexadecenoic, hexadecatetraenoic, stearic, oleic, linoleic and linolenic. Globules isolated from D. bardawil contained most of the β-carotene of the cells, plus small amounts of other neutral lipids.