Lipid composition of thermal isolate Mastigocladus laminosus at different temperatures

A B S T R A C T detected in cells were caprylic acid (C 8:0), nonanoic acid (C 9:0), capric acid (C 10:0), undecanoic acid (C11:0), lauric acid (C12:0), tridecanoic acid (C13:0), myristic acid(C14:0), pentadecanoic acid (C15:0), palmitic acid (C16:0), heptadecanoic acid (C17:0), stearic acid (C18:0), nondecanoic acid (C19:0), arachidic acid (C20:0), heneicosanoic acids (C21:0), behenic acid (C22:0), trichosanoic acid (C23:0), and lignoceric acid (C24:0). Low molecular weight saturated fatty acids species e.g. caprylic acid (C8:0) and nonanoic acid (C9:0), were totally absent in low temperature grown cells, while large molecular weight saturated fatty acid from carbon chain length C11 to C24. were abundant in low temperature grown cells. Higher amount of saturated fatty acid in cells grown at suboptimum temperature (25 o C) indicated that membranes become highly rigid and as a result most of the membrane linked processes such as photosynthetic electron transport remains non-functional or less efficient at 25 o C.