The fatty acids of Rhodopseudomonas particles

Abstract

The lipids of the particulate fraction of Rhodopseudomonas contain largely (72-79%) octadecenoic acid under both aerobic and anaerobic growth conditions. Of the octadecenoic acids 90% was vaccinic acid and 10% was oleic acid under aerobic growth conditions; anaerobically the values were 97 and 3% respectively. The fatty acids of the lipids of the anaerobically grown cell particles contained about 5% of linoleic acid. These results do not support the idea that the formation of monoenic acids is by a different metabolic pathway under aerobic and anaerobic conditions; nor that the synthesis of polyenoic fatty-acids in microorganisms requires the direct participa-tion of O2.