Premium
Phospholipid fatty acyl distribution of three fungi indicates positional specificity for n‐6 vs . n‐3 fatty acids
Author(s) -
Kendrick Andrew,
Ratledge Collin
Publication year - 1992
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/bf02536131
Subject(s) - phospholipid , polyunsaturated fatty acid , glycerol , fatty acid , biochemistry , clinical chemistry , lipidology , biology , phosphatidylcholine , residue (chemistry) , chemistry , membrane
Abstract Phospholipids of the fungi Conidobolus nanodes, Entomophthora exitalis and Saprolegnia parasitica were extracted and analyzed. The phospholipid content was the same (2.4%) for the three species and was independent of the total lipid content. Phospholipase A 2 degradation of individual phospholipid classes showed an asymmetrical distribution of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) between the two fatty acyl positions of glycerol. There was a predominance of n‐6 PUFA at position 2 and a predominance of n‐3 PUFA at position 1. With C. nanodes and E. exitalis , 20∶5n−3 is derived from 18∶3n−3 and is located predominantly at position 1. In S. parasitica 20∶5n−3 is synthesized from 18∶3n−6 via 20∶4n−6 and is located predominantly at position 2. It is suggested that the asymmetrical distribution of PUFA between positions 1 and 2 of glycerol Points towards different sites of synthesis of the two classes of PUFA, and that cross‐over between PUFA of the different types is prevented by the sn ‐1 or sn ‐2 positional specificity of the desaturases.