Unusual medium-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids from the snow alga Chloromonas brevispina.
The gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) method was used to identify unusual medium-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) in the snow alga Chloromonas brevispina collected in 2006 from surface layers of a snow field with conspicuous green patches in Bohemian Forest (Czech Republic). PUFAs formed more than 75% total fatty acids. Among them, mass spectroscopy of picolinyl esters showed sizable proportions of medium-chain PUFA, e.g., 5,8,11-tetradecatrienoic and 6,9,12-pentadecatrienoic acids. The high relative content of PUFA indicates that PUFA are an important element ensuring cell survival. Our report appears to be the first to describe the presence of short- and medium-chain PUFAs in green psychrophilic algae of the genus Chloromonas.
Rezanka
Tomás
T
Institute of Microbiology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Prague, Czech Republic. rezanka@biomed.cas.cz <rezanka@biomed.cas.cz>
Nedbalová
Linda
L
Sigler
Karel
K
D000460:Chlorophyta / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D018153:Czech Republic; D005231:Fatty Acids, Unsaturated / Q000032:analysis* / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry; D012914:Snow / Q000382:microbiology
D005231:Fatty Acids, Unsaturated