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Membrane lipids of a psychrophilic and barophilic deep-sea bacterium

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Abstract

In a psychrophilic and barophilic marine bacterial isolate of the genusAlteromonas, the ratio of total unsaturated versus saturated fatty acids in the membrane lipids increased when the organism was grown at increasing hydrostatic pressures and decreasing temperatures. This regulatory capacity, as well as the presence of relatively large amounts of 20:5 polyunsaturated fatty acid, appear to be functional in maintaining membrane fluidity within a range of pressures distinctly below and above the specific optimum and at typical deep sea temperatures.

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Wirsen, C.O., Jannasch, H.W., Wakeham, S.G. et al. Membrane lipids of a psychrophilic and barophilic deep-sea bacterium. Current Microbiology 14, 319–322 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01568697

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