Changes in membrane lipid composition in exponentially growing Staphylococcus aureus during the shift from 37 to 25 C.

Lowering the temperature of growth of Staphylococcus aureus from 37 to 25 C decreased the growth rate and induced changes in the composition of the membrane lipids. Changes in lipid composition also occur in the transition between exponential and stationary growth phases at one temperature. To isolate the effects of lowering the temperature, exponentially growing S. aureus was abruptly switched from 37 to 25 C by transfer to cooler medium. Exponential growth continued at 25 C without a lag period but with a threefold increase in doubling time. In the period of exponential growth at suboptimal temperature, there was essentially no change in the fatty acid composition of the lipids, little change in the vitamin K(2) composition with perhaps a slight increase in the total level, and essentially no change in the phospholipid composition, but a marked stimulation of the synthesis of the rubixanthins. Growth of cells at 25 C was much more sensitive to the inhibition of rubixanthin formation by mixed-function oxidase inhibitors than cells growing at 37 C, suggesting some function for the rubixanthins at suboptimal temperatures. The striking increases in the proportions of monoenoic fatty acids observed at lowered growth temperatures in many biological systems are not detected in S. aureus.