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Cellular fatty acids derived from normal alkanes by Candida rugosa
Author(s) -
Iida M.,
Kobayashi H.,
Iizuka H.
Publication year - 1980
Publication title -
zeitschrift für allgemeine mikrobiologie
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.58
H-Index - 54
eISSN - 1521-4028
pISSN - 0044-2208
DOI - 10.1002/jobm.19800200704
Subject(s) - alkane , pentadecane , chemistry , hexadecane , substrate (aquarium) , heptadecane , biochemistry , stereochemistry , organic chemistry , biology , catalysis , ecology
Abstract In an attempt to examine the specific metabolic relationship between the alkane substrates and lipid products the pattern of formation of cellular lipid, especially fatty acids, has been studied in the course of incubation of cells of C. rugosa with n ‐alkanes in mineral medium. C 18:2 , C 18:1 , C 16:1 and C 16:0 fatty acids were the major products formed, irrespective of the odd or even chain length of the alkane used as substrate. These unsaturated fatty acids reached a maximum in the stationary phase. In the case of cells grown on odd‐chain n ‐alkanes (from C 11 to C 19 ), the proportion of odd‐chain cellular fatty acids was markedly high, reaching 77–88% in the n ‐pentadecane and heptadecane‐grown cells. The resulting acids are then metabolized by β‐oxidation or inserted directly or after elongation with C 2 ‐units into the cellular fatty acids. The total lipid content of n ‐alkane ( n ‐C 10 ‐C 20 ) grown cells in the stationary phase was 16.3–19.0% of the dry cell weight, which was about three times as much as that of glucose‐grown cells. The chain length of alkane substrates had a significant effect on the lipid content. Ergosterol production from n ‐hexadecane was twice higher than that from glucose.