Abstract
The apolar, glycolipid and phospholipid components of four hot spring microbial mats were compared. The complexity among lipid components decreased as temperature and hydrogen sulphide concentration in these hot spring settings became more extreme. The major apolar lipids in all mats were wax esters typical of Chloroflexus which comprised nearly half of the lipids of a mat built solely by this photosynthetic bacterium. Among other apolar lipids some were distinctive of either the cyanobacterial mats (e.g., mid-chain branched monomethylalkanes) or the Chloroflexus mat (e.g., hentriacontatriene). Methanolysis of glycolipid and phospholipid fractions yielded mainly fatty acid methyl esters (FAME's) ( n-C 16:0, n-C 16:1, n-C 18:0, n-C 18:1 predominating) with moderate amounts of branched FAME's, alkane -1,2-diols and 1-O-alkylglycerols and traces of phytanyl and nonisoprenoid 1,2-di-O-dialkylglycerols. These lipid occurrences compare favourably with known components of bacteria of various physiological groups which have been cultivated from hot spring mats. The relative abundance of lipids seems to correlate with the trophic structure of the mat communities. Higher water temperature paralleled increased chain length and decreased degree of unsaturation of lipids in the mats.
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