Lipid composition of the mycelial and spore forms of Trichophyton verrucosum

Neutral lipid composition and that of phospholipids of mycelial and spore forms of Trichophyton verrucosum were examined. It was found that arthrospores had more than twice as high content of lipids (99.3 mg/g) than the corresponding mycelial form (44.7 mg/g). Differences were also found in the qualitative composition: almost two times more neutral lipids (58.5 mg/g) and three times more phospholipids (40.8 mg/g) occurred in the spores than in the mycelial form 30.6 and 14.1 mg/g, respectively). Analysis of the neutral lipid fraction composition of both examined forms of T. verrucosum showed that the basic component were triglycerides, constituting about 70% in the spores and 44% in the mycelium of all the lipids. In the case of phospholipids no significant differences were observed between the spore and mycelial forms, phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylethanolamine were predominating in both forms. A much higher content of lipids in the infectious form of the fungus, the arthrospores, suggest a possibility of participation of this fraction in the pathogenicity of the fungus.