Adaptive changes in cardiolipin content of Staphylococcus aureus grown in different salt concentrations.

Adaptive changes in cardiolipin content were examined in Staphylococcus aureus 209P using the 32P pulse-labelling method. Cardiolipin synthesis showed increased adaptation when cells grown in normal medium were transferred into high NaCl containing medium. When S. aureus cultured in 10% NaCl medium was transferred back to normal medium, cardiolipin concentration decreased to the normal level within 3 hours. The catabolic rate of cardiolipin in the cells was much slower in the 5% NaCl medium than in normal medium. The cardiolipin synthetase activity was examined by isolated membrane fraction from S. aureus grown both in normal and 10% NaCl medium. The activity was higher by two-fold in membrane fractions from cells cultured in 10% NaCl-containing medium than in membranes from cells cultured in normal medium.