Lipid metabolism in Achlya: changes in lipid composition during development

Fractionation of total lipid extracted from Achlya sp. at various stages of its developmental cycle revealed that in spores total lipid was composed of 62% neutral lipid, 13% phospholipid, and 25% glycolipid. After germination, the proportion of neutral lipid rose slightly after 2 h then fell sharply to 10% after 8 h, whereupon it rose to 55% of total lipid after 30 h of growth, when sporulation was completed. Conversely, phospholipid rose to 77% of total lipid after 8 h, then declined to 40% after 30 h. Glycolipid was maintained at 10-20% of total lipid throughout the life cycle after spore germination. Quantitative determination of neutral lipid components by photo-reflectometry showed that triglycerides accounted for 20% of neutral lipid in spores, and free fatty acids made up 50%. During growth, the absolute levels of both components fell precipitously on germination, remained at low levels throughout vegetative growth, and rose at the time of sporulation. The fatty acid composition of total lipid, phospholipid, neutral lipid, and free fatty acid fractions extracted from vegetative and sporulating Achlya cells was determined. The principal fatty acids present in all fractions of both stages of the life cycle were hexadecanoic and octadecanoic acids. Hydroxyhexadecanoic acid, eicosatetraenoic acid, and an unidentified long-chain acid were completely absent from the phospholipids of vegetative cells, although they were found in significant quantities in lipid fractions from other stages of growth.