Lipid Profile Of Thermophlic CyanobacteriumMastigocladus Laminosus At DifferentTemperatures

Thin layer chromatography of total lipids of Mastigocladus laminosus and comparison with values of standard indicated the presence of lipid spots, monogalactosyl diglyceride (MGDG), glycolipid (GL) and phosphatidyl diglyceride (PG) common in both high (45oC) and low temperature grown cells (26oC). Total saturated fatty acid content was five times higher in low temperature grown cells (25oC) compared to 45oC. Among important fatty acids detected in cells were caprylic acid (C8:0), nonanoic acid (C9:0), capric acid (C10:0), 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 (25oC) 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 25oC.