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Updated: Aug 11, 2026

Development of Sulfidogenic Sludge from Marine Sediments and Trichloroethylene Reduction in an Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket Reactor
Published on: October 15, 2015
Monoalkylether phospholipids in the sulfate-reducing bacteria Desulfosarcina variabilis and Desulforhabdus amnigenus
H Rütters1, H Sass, H Cypionka
1Organic Geochemistry Group, Institute of Chemistry and Biology of the Marine Environment, Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg, P.O. Box 2503, 26111 Oldenburg, Germany. heike.ruetters@icbm.de
Abstract:
In this study, cellular lipid compositions of two mesophilic sulfate-reducing bacteria were analyzed by high performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS). In Desulfosarcina variabilis and Desulforhabdus amnigenus, alkylether-containing phospholipids were detected which had previously only been found in significant amounts in deeply branching hyperthermophilic bacteria and archaea. Combining information from HPLC-MS analysis and chemical degradation experiments, ether lipids were identified as 1-alkyl-2-acyl-phosphatidyl ethanolamines, glycerols and cholines. In Desulforhabdus amnigenus, n-penta-, n-hexa- and n-heptadecyl ethers were present (in order of decreasing abundance), whereas Desulfosarcina variabilis solely contained n-hexadecyl ether side chains.
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