Structural Diversity of the Membrane Core Lipids of Extreme Halophiles

Abstract

  The structural diversity of the core lipids of extreme halophiles Haloarcula japonica and Halobacterium halobium was investigated. The most significant difference is that Ha. japonica contains sn-2,3-di-O-phytanylglycerol exclusively as the core lipid, whereas Hb. halobium contains both sn-2,3-di-O-phytanylglycerol and sn-2-O-sesterterpanyl (3,7,11,15,19-pentamethyleicosanyl)-3-O-phytanylglycerol.