Cyanophora paradoxa: Fatty Acids and Fatty Acid Synthesis in vitro

Abstract The fatty acid pattern of Cyanophora paradoxa membrane lipids is highly unusual with 16:0, 20:3 and 20:4 as the main acids. The 20:4 acid is preferentially distributed among the cyanelle lipids. In isolated cyanelles a relatively low in vitro synthesis of only saturated and monounsatu­rated fatty acids from [l- 14 C]acetate was observed which corresponds to the relatively low photo­synthetic oxygen evolution.