[Fatty acid makeup changes in the luminescent bacteria, Photobacterium mandapamensis, in periodic cultivation]

The fatty acid composition of the luminescent bacterium Photobacterium mandapamensis and its spontaneous dark mutant was studied in dynamics. Lipids of the both strains extracted with a methanol -- chloroform mixture contained the following fatty acids: lauric, tridecanoic, myristic, tetradecenic, pentadecanoic, pentadecenic, palmitic, palmitoleic, heptadecanoic, C17-cyclopropanoic, stearic, octadecenic, and nonadecanoic. The content of palmitoleic acid was the highest (57% of the total). Not all of the acids changed their content in the same direction during batch cultivation of the luminescent and dark strains. The content of palmitoleic acid fell to 49.2% of the total in the luminescent culture at the point of its maximal luminescence, but it increased to 63.8% in the dark strain at the corresponding growth phase.