TWO GROUPS OF PHOSPHATIDYLETHANOLAMINE IN VIBRIO SP. STRAIN ABE-1 SEPARATED BY SILICA GEL THIN-LAYER CHROMATOGRAPHY

Abstract

We analyzed a previously unknown phospholipid (PL-2) in the psychrophilic bacterium, Vibrio ABE-1 . In thin-layer chromatography, it moved close to phosphatidylethanolamine but had a different Rf value. The polar head group of PL-2 was ethanolamine, and the sn-glycerol carbon atoms. This demonstrates that PL-2 is a species of phosphatidyl- bond/ethanolamine was 1:1.1:2.0:1.1. The chloroform- and water- soluble fractions after treatment with phospholipase C were 1, 2-diacylglycerol and phosphoryl ethanolamine, respectively. The phosphatidylethanolamine of this bacterium has mainly C16 fatty acids especially hexade- cenoic acid (16:1). PL-2 has higher amounts of saturated fatty acids such as hexadecanoic acid (16:0) and short chain fatty acids with less than 15 carbon atoms. This demonstrates that PL-2 is a species of phosphatidylethanolamine which has fatty acids that are different in average chain length and degree of unsaturation. The possible role of PL-2 in the phase separation of membrane phospholipid is discussed.