This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Reprints and Permissions Copyright Information Books from ASM Press MicrobeWorld Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Anderson, R Articles by Huang, Y Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Anderson, R Articles by Huang, Y

research-article

Fatty acids are precursors of alkylamines in Deinococcus radiodurans.

Department of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

ABSTRACT

Deinococcus radiodurans contains novel phospholipids of which the structures of three have been previously described. These three lipids contain both fatty acids and alkylamines. Both the fatty acid and alkylamine constituents were found to be composed of a mixture of species, of which C15, C16, and C17 saturated and monounsaturated alkyl chains predominated. Alkylamines contained a relatively higher proportion of saturated species. Progression of bacterial growth through the mid-log to stationary phases was accompanied by an increase in the proportions of C15 and C17 alkyl chains in both fatty acid and alkylamine constituents. Radiolabeled palmitic acid was found to be rapidly incorporated into both fatty acid and alkylamine components of phosphatidylglyceroylalkylamine, which is the precursor of the more-complex phosphoglycolipids found in major amounts in D. radiodurans. After culturing D. radiodurans in the presence of a mixture of palmitic acids labeled with 14C and 3H in the 1 and 9,10 positions, respectively, the same 14C/3H ratio was recovered in both fatty acid and alkylamine constituents, strongly suggesting that alkylamines are derived from intact fatty acids rather than by a de novo pathway. The results identify a novel product of fatty acid metabolism which has not to date been observed in any other organism.

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Rainey, F. A., Ray, K., Ferreira, M., Gatz, B. Z., Nobre, M. F., Bagaley, D., Rash, B. A., Park, M.-J., Earl, A. M., Shank, N. C., Small, A. M., Henk, M. C., Battista, J. R., Kampfer, P., da Costa, M. S. (2005). Extensive Diversity of Ionizing-Radiation-Resistant Bacteria Recovered from Sonoran Desert Soil and Description of Nine New Species of the Genus Deinococcus Obtained from a Single Soil Sample. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 71: 5225-5235 [Abstract] [Full Text]