Departments of Organic Chemistry and Microbiology, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria 3052, Australia.
Appl Environ Microbiol. 1983 May;45(5):1423-8. doi: 10.1128/aem.45.5.1423-1428.1983.
Microbial degradation of phytol is often proposed to be the primary source of the acyclic isoprenoid acids observed in sediments, yet only a limited number of these acids have been found in bacterial cultures grown on phytol. This study reports detailed capillary gas chromatography and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analyses of the products resulting from growth of marine bacteria on phytol as the sole carbon source. We examined two strains of bacteria which were able to oxidize phytol to phytenic acid but were unable to further degrade phytol. The third isolate studied converted phytol to a mixture of five saturated isoprenoid acids. The C(17) isoprenoid acid produced was of particular interest, since its genesis from phytol would have involved several unusual intermediates. It is suggested that this acid is produced by bacterial metabolism of the C(18) isoprenoid ketone (produced from phytol abiologically under oxic conditions) and that its abundance is thus a sensitive indicator of sedimentary depositional conditions.
植醇的微生物降解通常被认为是沉积物中观察到的无环异戊二烯酸的主要来源，但在以植醇为唯一碳源培养的细菌培养物中只发现了有限数量的这些酸。本研究报告了详细的毛细气相色谱和气相色谱-质谱分析，这些分析是基于海洋细菌在以植醇为唯一碳源的情况下生长而产生的产物。我们研究了两种能够将植醇氧化为法呢酸但不能进一步降解植醇的细菌菌株。第三种被研究的分离物将植醇转化为五种饱和异戊二烯酸的混合物。所产生的 C(17)异戊二烯酸特别有趣，因为它的生成涉及到植醇中的几个不寻常的中间产物。有人认为，这种酸是由细菌代谢 C(18)异戊二烯酮（在有氧条件下生物非生产植醇）产生的，因此其丰度是沉积条件的敏感指标。
