[Hydrolysis of diphosphatidylglycerol in situ in E. coli by activation of specific phospholipase D].

E coli cells are harvested at early stationary phase and, first, incubated in phosphate buffer without energetic metabolites, conditions which invole the formation of an excess of diphosphatidylglycerol. If, in a second stage, they are cultivated again in normal medium, the diphosphatidylglycerol is metabolized very fast. It is mainly hydrolyzed, by activation of a specific phospholipase D, with formation of phosphatidylglycerol and phosphatidic acid. The latter is immediatly metabolized in bacteria in phosphatidylglycerol and phosphatidylethanolamine, both about equal in amount.