Biosynthesis of polyisoprenoid lipids in the rat tapeworm Hymenolepis diminuta.
The possible occurrence of isoprenoid lipids in the tapeworm, Hymenolepis diminuta, was investigated by analytic and biosynthetic methods. Two-dimensional thin layer chromatography (TLC) resolved the worm's non-saponifiable lipids into cholesterol, farnesol, and several unknown compounds, two of which migrated with dolichol standards on TLC and reacted with phthalic anhydride, a probe for alcohols; the major compound also exhibited a mass spectrum very similar to that of a dolichol standard. A third unknown compound separable by TLC, apparently a quinone, was intrinsically red, was decolorized by treatment with sodium dithionite and migrated on TLC in a more polar position than either ubiquinone-50 or vitamin K1. All three compounds, as well as farnesol, were labelled when worms were incubated with [14C]-mevalonolactone, suggesting that they are endogenous isoprenoids.
D000818:Animals; D002855:Chromatography, Thin Layer; D004224:Diterpenes / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D004286:Dolichols / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D006926:Hymenolepis / Q000378:metabolism*; D013058:Mass Spectrometry; D008798:Mevalonic Acid / Q000378:metabolism; D051381:Rats; D013712:Tenebrio; D013729:Terpenes / Q000378:metabolism*
D004224:Diterpenes; D004286:Dolichols; D013729:Terpenes; D008798:Mevalonic Acid