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Growth Temperature and Salinity Impact Fatty Acid Composition and Degree of Unsaturation in Peanut-Nodulating Rhizobia

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Lipids

Abstract

Growth and survival of bacteria depend on homeostasis of membrane lipids, and the capacity to adjust lipid composition to adapt to various environmental stresses. Membrane fluidity is regulated in part by the ratio of unsaturated to saturated fatty acids present in membrane lipids. Here, we studied the effects of high growth temperature and salinity (NaCl) stress, separately or in combination, on fatty acids composition and de novo synthesis in two peanut-nodulating Bradyrhizobium strains (fast-growing TAL1000 and slow-growing SEMIA6144). Both strains contained the fatty acids palmitic, stearic, and cis-vaccenic + oleic. TAL1000 also contained eicosatrienoic acid and cyclopropane fatty acid. The most striking change, in both strains, was a decreased percentage of cis-vaccenic + oleic (≥80% for TAL1000), and an associated increase in saturated fatty acids, under high growth temperature or combined conditions. Cyclopropane fatty acid was significantly increased in TAL1000 under the above conditions. De novo synthesis of fatty acids was shifted to the synthesis of a higher proportion of saturated fatty acids under all tested conditions, but to a lesser degree for SEMIA6144 compared to TAL1000. The major adaptive response of these rhizobial strains to increased temperature and salinity was an altered degree of fatty acid unsaturation, to maintain the normal physical state of membrane lipids.

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Abbreviations

CFU:

Colony forming unit

FAME:

Fatty acid methyl esters

FA:

Fatty acids

GC:

Gas chromatography

HPLC:

High performance liquid chromatography

PL:

Phospholipids

Ptd2Gro:

Cardiolipin

DMPtdEtn:

Dimethyl phosphatidylethanolamine

LPtdEtn:

Lysophosphatidylethanolamine

PtdCho:

Phosphatidylcholine

PtdEtn:

Phosphatidylethanolamine

PtdGro:

Phosphatidylglycerol

SEM:

Standard error of the mean

TLC:

Thin layer chromatography

UFA:

Unsaturated fatty acids

U/S:

Ratio between sum of unsaturated to sum of saturated fatty acids

Z/A:

Ratio of zwitterionic to anionic phospholipids

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Acknowledgments

Financial assistance was provided by SECyT-UNRC/Argentina. N.S.P. is a fellow of CONICET-Argentina. D.B.M. was a fellow of CONICET-Argentina. M.S.D. is a member of the Research Career of CONICET-Argentina. The authors thank Dr. Laura Villasuso for her valuable assistance in the preparation of the figures and Dr. Ricardo Lema for his help with the language.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Biología Molecular, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físico-Químicas y Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto, CPX5804BYA, Río Cuarto, Córdoba, Argentina

    Natalia S. Paulucci, Daniela B. Medeot, Marta S. Dardanelli & Mirta García de Lema

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  1. Natalia S. Paulucci
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  2. Daniela B. Medeot
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  3. Marta S. Dardanelli
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  4. Mirta García de Lema
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Correspondence to Mirta García de Lema.

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Paulucci, N.S., Medeot, D.B., Dardanelli, M.S. et al. Growth Temperature and Salinity Impact Fatty Acid Composition and Degree of Unsaturation in Peanut-Nodulating Rhizobia. Lipids 46, 435–441 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11745-011-3545-1

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