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Effects of changes in the major carbon source on the fatty acids of Euglena gracilis
Author(s) -
Reitz Ronald C.,
Moore Gary S.
Publication year - 1972
Publication title -
lipids
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.601
H-Index - 120
eISSN - 1558-9307
pISSN - 0024-4201
DOI - 10.1007/bf02533068
Subject(s) - euglena gracilis , ethanol , chemistry , heterotroph , fatty acid , food science , carbon fibers , carbon source , myristic acid , biochemistry , phototroph , palmitic acid , botany , biology , bacteria , photosynthesis , genetics , materials science , chloroplast , composite number , composite material , gene
Euglena gracilis was cultured under both heterotrophic and phototrophic growth conditions using ethanol, glucose or CO 2 as the major carbon source. Total fatty acid analyses indicated that ethanol produced more highly unsaturated acids than did glucose under both growth conditions. Growth in the light on CO 2 yielded a very high content of 18∶3, 16∶3 and 16∶4 (33%), compared to ethanol (11%) or glucose (10%). These two preformed carbon sources enhanced the content of the C 20 and C 22 polyenes compared to CO 2 , and growth in the dark on to CO 2 , and growth in the dark on ethanol caused a further increase in these polyenes. Growth in the dark on glucose caused only a slight increase of the C 20 and C 22 polyenes compared to growth in the light on this carbon source. When the fatty acid patterns of the two dark‐grown heterotrophs were compared, two observations were quite evident. First, there was a two‐fold increase in the saturated acids in the cells grown on glucose. This was largely due to myristic acid. Second, the C 20 and C 22 polyenes were almost twice as concentrated in the cells grown on ethanol.