Abstract
The lipid composition in higher plants and algae can be modulated by changing growth conditions such as temperature and light intensity. One of the major effects is on the level of fatty acid desaturation. Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), especially those of the ω3 family appear to be essential for survival at low temperatures (Wada and Murata, 1989; Browse and Somerville, 1991). While there is an abundance of information pertaining to the effect of environmental conditions on the fatty acid composition of algae (Cobelas, 1989), very little is known concerning the effects on the molecular species composition of the individual lipids. The lipids of higher plants and algae are further divided according to their molecular species composition. The diacylglycerol (DAG) moieties of the prokaryotic species of galactolipids are assembled in the chloroplast and are characterized by the presence of C16 acyl groups at their sn-2 position, while the DAGs of eukaryotic species originate in the cytoplasm and contain C18 acyl groups in their sn-2 position. The aim of the present work was to study the effect of cultivation temperature and biomass density on the molecular species composition of the major galactolipids, MGDG and DGDG, in Porphyridium cruentum.
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© 1997 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
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Adlerstein, D., Khozin, I., Bigogno, C., Cohen, Z. (1997). Effect on Environmental Conditions on the Molecular Species Composition of Galactolipids in the Alga Porphyridium Cruentum . In: Williams, J.P., Khan, M.U., Lem, N.W. (eds) Physiology, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology of Plant Lipids. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-2662-7_69
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-2662-7_69
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