Hamerly Timothy, Tripet Brian, Wurch Louie, Hettich Robert L, Podar Mircea, Bothner Brian, Copié Valérie
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT 59717, USA.
Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37831, USA; Department of Microbiology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA.
Archaea. 2015 Dec 31;2015:472726. doi: 10.1155/2015/472726. eCollection 2015.
Lipids composed of condensed isoprenyl units connected to glycerol backbones by ether linkages are a distinguishing feature of Archaea. Data suggesting that fatty acids with linear hydrocarbon chains are present in some Archaea have been available for decades. However, lack of genomic and biochemical evidence for the metabolic machinery required to synthesize and degrade fatty acids has left the field unclear on this potentially significant biochemical aspect. Because lipids are energy currency and cell signaling molecules, their presence in Archaea is significant for understanding archaeal biology. A recent large-scale bioinformatics analysis reignited the debate as to the importance of fatty acids in Archaea by presenting genetic evidence for the presence of enzymes required for anabolic and catabolic fatty acid metabolism across the archaeal domain. Here, we present direct biochemical evidence from gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy for the presence of fatty acids in two members of the Crenarchaeota, Sulfolobus solfataricus and Ignicoccus hospitalis. This is the first report providing biochemical data for the existence of fatty acids in these Crenarchaeota, opening new discussions on energy balance and the potential for the discovery of new thermostable enzymes for industry.
由通过醚键连接到甘油主链上的缩合异戊二烯单元组成的脂质是古菌的一个显著特征。表明具有直链烃链的脂肪酸存在于一些古菌中的数据已经存在数十年了。然而，缺乏关于合成和降解脂肪酸所需代谢机制的基因组和生化证据，使得该领域在这个潜在重要的生化方面仍不明确。由于脂质是能量货币和细胞信号分子，它们在古菌中的存在对于理解古菌生物学具有重要意义。最近的一项大规模生物信息学分析通过展示古菌域中脂肪酸合成代谢和分解代谢所需酶存在的遗传证据，重新引发了关于脂肪酸在古菌中重要性的争论。在这里，我们通过气相色谱 - 质谱联用（GC - MS）和核磁共振（NMR）光谱提供直接的生化证据，证明在泉古菌门的两个成员嗜热栖热菌和医院火球菌中存在脂肪酸。这是第一份为这些泉古菌中脂肪酸的存在提供生化数据的报告，开启了关于能量平衡以及发现用于工业的新型耐热酶潜力的新讨论。
