Effect of sulfonamides on the fatty acid composition of enterobacterial lipids
Vasiurenko, Z.P.; Ruban, N.M.
Mikrobiolohichnyi Zhurnal 47(1): 29-36
1985
ISSN/ISBN: 0201-8462 PMID: 3917183 Document Number: 247726
A considerable increase in the level of cyclopropane fatty acids with a decrease in the content of their biosynthetic predecessors (unsaturated fatty acids) is observed in enterobacteria with high level of cyclopropane fatty acid (Shigella) synthesis in the presence of high concentrations of sulfonamide (sulfathiazole, sulfaethidole, sulfamethoxpyridazine) in the growth medium (beef extract broth). The level of saturated fatty acids with a shorter chain (tetradecanoic) increases as well, the highly activated respective mechanism for bringing fatty acid composition in accordance with the changed conditions in one of the studied Shigella strains being the unique one. Sulfonamides evoke an increase in the level of tetradecanoic acid in enterobacteria which synthesize no definite amounts of cyclopropane fatty acid (Providencia alcalifaciens), with the reduciton of hexadecenoic acid and with a slight rise of the level of unsaturated fatty acids with 18 C atoms. Phospholipids are responsible for the observed variations in the composition of cellular fatty acids in enterobacteria.