title: Effects of small amounts of pentadecan-2-one on the growth of Clostridium butyricum.
abstract: Primary alcohols occur as trace lipids and are the only long-chain alcohol species present in Clostridium butyricum. Secondary alcohols do not occur physiologically in this microorganism. Exposure of these cells to the methyl ketone, pentadecan-2-one, results in a marked decrease in the primary alcohol content with the secondary alcohol, pentadadecan-2-ol, becoming the major alcohol present. This change in lipid composition is associated with a significant decrease in growth rate that is proportional to the log of the pentadecan 2-one concentration of the incubation medium. When these cells are incubated with pentadecan-2-ol alone, growth is unaffected. Simultaneous exposure of the bacteria to pentadecan-2-one and a mixture of primary alcohols results in a partial relief of the growth inhibition observed with the ketone alone. These observations indicate that pentadecan-2-one inhibits the formation of primary alcohols that are important for normal growth of this bacterium.
mesh_terms: D000438:Alcohols / Q000378:metabolism; D003013:Clostridium / Q000187:drug effects / Q000254:growth & development*; D007659:Ketones / Q000494:pharmacology*; D010743:Phospholipids / Q000378:metabolism; D013329:Structure-Activity Relationship
chemical_list: D000438:Alcohols; D007659:Ketones; D010743:Phospholipids; C012474:pentadecan-2-one