Abstract
SYNOPSIS The fatty acids lauric, myristic, and oleic, as well as long‐chain bases (LCBs) obtained from sphingolipids, and Tween 80 “spare” the requirement for folate by Tetrahymena pyriformis W. Since LCBs are metabolized by the ciliate to ethanolamine phosphate and fatty aldehydes which can be converted to either fatty acids or fatty alcohols, the latter compounds are used as precursors of phospho‐ and phosphonolipids and ether phospholipids. It is suggested that lipid biosynthesis is a rate‐limiting step in growth of the ciliate as is the folate concentration. Removal of one restraint on growth rate mimics the effect of increased folate concentration. Alternatively, if the enzymes responsible for lipid synthesis are repressible, the presence of exogenous fatty acids would make available more formylmethionyl‐tRNA for the initiation of synthesis of other proteins.
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