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Membrane fluidity of a fatty acid auxotroph grown with palmitic acid

Nature volume 279, pages 536–538 (1979)Cite this article

Abstract

HOMEOVISCOUS adaptation, whereby the fatty acid composition and unsaturation of complex lipid bilayers in membranes may be adjusted to maintain fluidity irrespective of growth temperature, has been demonstrated for Escherichia coli1, Acholeplasma laidlawii2 and Bacillus stearothermophilus3. Even at high temperatures, a minimum amount of unsaturated fatty acid is required for growth of an E. coli auxotroph4, and generally, for A. laidlawii B, at least half the lipids must be in the fluid or disordered state to allow normal growth5. Unlike the fatty acid auxotrophs of E. coli and A. laidlawii used in previous investigations of membrane fluidity2,4,5, a fatty acid auxotrophic Butyrivibrio sp. (strain S2) isolated from the ovine rumen was found to be unable to synthesise long-chain fatty acids and incorporated palmitic acid, without desaturation, into lipids of the plasmalogen type partially as a new long-chain dicarboxylic acid6. This gave an opportunity to study the lipid composition of a microorganism with a defined fatty acid availability, and also to study the state of fluidity of its membranes in the complete absence of acyl chain unsaturation. We report here a study of membrane lipid fluidity in Butyrivibrio S2 using the electron spin resonance (ESR) probe 5-doxylstearic acid. Considerable rigidity of hydrocarbon chains is demonstrated but a phase change or structural reorganisation occurs at the lowest temperature, allowing optimal growth of the organism.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biochemistry, ETH Zurich, CH-8092, Zurich, Switzerland

    H. HAUSER

  2. Biochemistry Department, Institute of Animal Physiology, Babraham, Cambridge, UK

    G. P. HAZLEWOOD & R. M. C. DAWSON

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  1. H. HAUSER
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  3. R. M. C. DAWSON
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HAUSER, H., HAZLEWOOD, G. & DAWSON, R. Membrane fluidity of a fatty acid auxotroph grown with palmitic acid. Nature 279, 536–538 (1979). https://doi.org/10.1038/279536a0

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