OCCURRENCE OF PLASMALOGENS IN ANAEROBIC BACTERIA

Abstract

YOSHIYUKI KAMIO, SHIRO KANEGASAKI AND HAJIME TAKAHASHI Department of Agricultural Chemistry, Faculty of Agriculture, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan (Received April 14, 1969) Plasmalogens, aldehyde-containing phospholipids, were found to occur widely in all four fractions of ruminal microbes obtained after differential centrifugation of sheep rumen contents. Plasmalogens were also detected in ruminal and soil anaerobic bacteria which were obtained by enrichment cultures with various energy sources. They occurred widely in all strictly anaerobic bacteria and Propionibacterium tested. The strains included Desul fovibrio sp., Selenomonas ruminantium, Bacteroides ruminicola, Veillonel-la gazogenes, Peptostreptococcus elsdenii, Propionibacterium freudenreichii, Pro-pionibacterium shermanii, Clostridium saccharoperbutylacetonicum, Clostridium acetobutylicum, Clostridium perfrigens, Clostridium kaneboi, and Clostridium kainantoi. Although the ubiquity of plasmalogens in these anaerobic bac-teria was confirmed, the amount of plasmalogens per unit weight of cells varied considerably depending on bacterial species. Amount of plasmalogens in Selenomonas and Propionibacterium also varied by cultural conditions. However, plasmalogens were not detected in aerobic bacteria and in facultative anaerobic bacteria even when they were cultured under strictly anaerobic conditions.