Lipid polymers from the turf-forming moss Dicranum elongatum

Abstract

The green part of Dicranum elongatum contained polymerized lipids amounting to 1.4 mg/g dry cell-wall preparation. The major monomer classes were hydroxy acids (44.9%) and fatty acids (39.7%), and the minor classes α,ω-dicarboxylic acids and fatty alcohols. The underground shoot parts encrusted with rhizoids contained a smaller amount of polymerized lipids (1.1–0.9 mg), with the important classes fatty acids, α,ω-dicarboxylic acids and hydroxy acids with 16 carbon atoms. The content of long-chain ω-hydroxy acids with 18 carbon atoms or more increased with shoot age, being highest in the oldest, decaying part of the turf. Similar age-dependent increases, although more conspicuous, occur in the turfs of two Sphagnum mosses but not in the wefts of two forest mosses.