On some lipid constituents of Corynebacterium ovis

Abstract

The lipids of Corynebacterium ovis (strain Bl/50) were successively extracted by petroleumether, ethanol‐ether (1:1, v/v) and chloroform.The bulk of the petroleum‐ether extract consists mainly of sodium corynomycolate together with sodium salts of C14, C16 and C18 fatty acids. Some triglycerides and free fatty acids were also detected.Isolated from the ethanol‐ether extract were: hydrocarbons, palmitone, free corynomycolic acid, a small amount of free corynomycolenic acid and a peptidolipid fraction. The phospholipid fraction contains a mixture of closely related compounds, having about 3.5% P. By hydrolysis, they are split into lipid components (50–70% of the initial products; mixtures of C16 and C18 fatty acids and corynomycolic acid), and water soluble components (glycerol, glycerophosphoric acid, inositol, arabinose, and small amounts of amino acids).Complex substances, soluble in ether, having a high content of phosphorus (3.2 to 4.5%) were isolated from the chloroform extract. All of them contain glycerol, along with ethanolamine and sugars (glucose, galactose, arabinose, and a fast moving unidentified sugar) in one case, and with amino acids (chemically bound) in two other cases. Moreover, one third of the chloroform extract is made of a fraction (10.8% N and 1.3% P) insoluble in ether, which gives, by hydrolysis, 19% of lipid components and a polypeptide containing all the usual amino acids; the structure of this last fraction is discussed.