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Lipids of Thermococcus hydrothermalis, an archaea isolated from a deep-sea hydrothermal vent

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Lipids

Abstract

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.

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Abbreviations

CC:

column chromatography

DMDS:

dimethyl disulfide

FAB-MS:

fast atom bombardment-mass spectrometry

GC:

gas chromatography

GC-MS:

gas chromatography-mass spectrometry

TLC:

thin-layer chromatography

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. DRO/EP/LBMH, IFREMER Centre de Brest, 29280, Plouzane, France

    Jean Guezennec

  2. Laboratoire de Chimie Bioorganique et Organique Physique, CNRS UMR 7573, ENSCP, 11 rue P. et M. Curie, 75231, Paris cedex 05, France

    Agnès Lattuati, Pierre Metzger & Claude Largeau

Authors
  1. Agnès Lattuati
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  2. Jean Guezennec
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  3. Pierre Metzger
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  4. Claude Largeau
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Correspondence to Agnès Lattuati.

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Lattuati, A., Guezennec, J., Metzger, P. et al. Lipids of Thermococcus hydrothermalis, an archaea isolated from a deep-sea hydrothermal vent. Lipids 33, 319–326 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11745-998-0211-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11745-998-0211-0

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