Polar Lipid Composition in the Classification of Some Actinomadura Species

Abstract

The polar lipids of Actinomadura dassonvillei, Actinomadura madurae, and Actinomadura pelletieri were analysed by two-dimensional thin-layer chromatography. A. madurae and A. pelletieri had a simple pattern consisting essentially of diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylinositol, and monoacyl phosphatidylinositol dimannoside, but A. dassonvillei strains contained diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, a lipid which co-chromatographed with phosphatidylcholine, and a chromatographically mobile unknown phospholipid. Two A. dassonvillei strains had substantial proportions of uncharacterised glycolipids and phosphoglycolipids. Low proportions of lipids co-chromatographing with, and having the same staining reactions as, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylinositol, and diacyl phosphatidylinositol dimannoside were detected in several strains of A. dassonvillei.