[Lipids of a paraffin-oxidizing strain of Pseudomonas aeruginosa]

The qualitative and quantitative composition of lipids was studied in a paraffin-oxidizing Pseudomonas aeruginosa P-20 strain. The content of free lipids was 7% of the dry biomass weight in a medium with hexadecane and 6.7% in a medium with glucose. The content of bound lipids was 6.7 and 5.6%, respectively. Phospholipids and free fatty acids are main components of lipids in the both cases. Phospholipids are represented by diphosphatidyl glycerol, phosphatidyl ethanolamine, phosphatidyl glycerol, and phosphatidyl choline. The fatty acids of free lipids consist by 72% of even acids with an unbranched carbon chain, among which palmitic and octadecenic acids prevail no matter what is the composition of a medium. 'Uneven' acids are represented mainly by nonadecenic acid: 17.8% in the medium with hexadecane and 15.9% in the medium with glucose. The content of unsaturated acids is 55.95% in 'hexadecane' cells and 44.89% in 'glucose' cells; octadecenic and nonadecenic acids predominate among unsaturated acids. Fatty acids covalently bound to cellular proteins and polysaccharides contain much less unsaturated compounds (particularly in cells grown in the medium with hexadecane) and more branched acids; C18:1, C16:0 and C17:0-branched acids predominate among them.