The biohydrogenation of alpha-linolenic acid and oleic acid by rumen micro-organisms.

1. alpha-[U-(14)C]Linolenic acid was incubated with the rumen contents of sheep and the metabolic products were characterized by thin-layer chromatography, gas-liquid chromatography and absorption spectroscopy in the ultraviolet and infrared. 2. A tentative scheme for the biohydrogenation route to stearic acid is presented. The main pathway is through diconjugated cis-cis-cis-octadecatrienoic acid, non-conjugated trans-cis (cis-trans)-octadecadienoic acid and trans-octadecenoic acid, but other pathways are apparent. 3. Washed rumen micro-organisms possessed only a limited capacity to hydrogenate alpha-linolenic acid and oleic acid but the rate was greatly stimulated by a factor(s) present in the supernatant rumen liquor. 4. Pure cultures of Clostridium perfringens, Streptococcus faecalis, Escherichia coli and a coliform organism isolated from sheep faeces possessed negligible ability to hydrogenate unsaturated fatty acids compared with a mixed population of rumen micro-organisms. Butyrivibrio fibrisolvens slowly converted linoleic acid into octadecenoic acid.