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Lipids of Thermococcus hydrothermalis , an archaea isolated from a deep‐sea hydrothermal vent
Author(s) -
Lattuati Agnès,
Guezennec Jean,
Metzger Pierre,
Largeau Claude
Publication year - 1998
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/s11745-998-0211-0
Subject(s) - archaea , thermophile , hydrothermal vent , thermococcus , chemistry , cyclopentane , biochemistry , glycerol , halophile , biology , hydrothermal circulation , stereochemistry , bacteria , genetics , paleontology , gene , enzyme
The membrane lipids of a deep‐sea hydrothermal vent archaea, Thermococcus hydrothermalis , were isolated, purified, and structurally characterized. On the basis of acid methanolysis and spectroscopic studies, the polar lipids, amounting to 4.5% (w/w) of the dry cells, comprised diphytanyl glycerol diethers and dibiphytanyldiglycerol tetraethers, in a 45∶55 ratio. No cyclopentane ring was present in the tetraethers. From the neutral lipids, accounting for 0.4% (w/w) of the dry cells, besides low amounts of di‐ and tetraethers occurring in a free form, four acyclic tetraterpenoid hydrocarbons, di‐ and triunsaturated were identified. All were structurally related to lycopane. The presence of these hydrocarbons provides some evidence that lycopane, widely distributed in oceans, could be derived, at least partially, from the hydrocarbons synthesized by some thermophilic Archaea. Finally, analysis of the uninoculated culture medium indicates that fatty acid derivatives and some steroid and triterpenoid compounds identified in the lipidic extract of the archaea originated from the culture medium.