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Plant and Cell Physiology, 1990, Vol. 31, No. 4 495-503
© 1990

Article

The Manipulation of the Fatty Acid Composition of Glycerolipids in Cyanobacteria Using Exogenous Fatty Acids

John P. Williams, Ellen Maissan, Kirk Mitchell and Mobashsher U. Khan

Department of Botany and Centre for Plant Biotechnology, University of Toronto 25 Willcocks Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 3B2

The fatty acid composition of the major diacylglycerolipids of Anacystis nidulans R2 cells was modified by the careful addition of exogenous fatty acids to the growth medium of the cyanobacteria. In this way it is possible to incorporate significant levels of different fatty acids into the membranes of the cells and change their physical properties without changing other environmental conditions. The exogenous fatty acid reduces or inhibits the biosynthesis of native fatty acids and substitutes for them in all the major diacylglycerolipids. Although modifying the fatty acid composition in this way is lethal above certain concentrations, the data demonstrate a remarkable ability of the cells to grow and develop over a wide range of fatty acid compositions. Similar data show that the fatty acid composition of Synechocystis sp. 6803 cells also undergo significant changes in fatty acid composition on the addition of exogenous fatty acid to the growth medium and can tolerate similar changes in the degree of unsaturation of the fatty acids of the diacylglycerolipids of the cell membranes.

(Received September 4, 1989; Accepted March 13, 1990)
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