Monounsaturated fatty acid aerobic synthesis in Bradyrhizobium TAL1000 peanut-nodulating is affected by temperature.

AIMS: The aim of this work was to clarify the mechanism of monounsaturated fatty acid (MUFA) synthesis in Bradyrhizobium TAL1000 and the effect of high temperature on this process. METHODS AND RESULTS: Bradyrhizobium TAL1000 was exposed to a high growth temperature and heat shock, and fatty acid composition and synthesis were tested. To determine the presence of a possible desaturase, a gene was identify and overexpressed in Escherichia coli. The desaturase expression was detected by RT-PCR and Western blotting. In B. TAL1000, an aerobic mechanism for MUFA synthesis was detected. Desaturation was decreased by high growth temperature and by heat shock. Two hours of exposure to 37°C were required for the change in MUFA levels. A potential ∆9 desaturase gene was identified and successfully expressed in E. coli. A high growth temperature and not heat shock reduced transcript and protein desaturase levels in rhizobial strain. CONCLUSIONS: In B. TAL1000, the anaerobic MUFA biosynthetic pathway is supplemented by an aerobic mechanism mediated by desaturase and is down-regulated by temperature to maintain membrane fluidity under stressful conditions. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY: This knowledge will be useful for developing strategies to improve a sustainable practice of this bacterium under stress and to enhance the bioprocess for the inoculants' manufacture.

Fetal bovine serum induces changes in fatty acid composition of Trypanosoma cruzi phosphoinositides.

Fetal bovine serum (FBS) is a necessary constituent of the culture media employed to foster the growth of Trypanosoma cruzi epimastigote forms. In different laboratories, the serum is used at final concentrations of 5 or 10%. We have normally supplemented the complex medium with 10% FBS. Under this condition we have described the fatty acid composition of the total lipids and of the phosphoinositide fractions. Additionally, we have reported the increase of polyphosphoinositides and phosphatidic acid after cholinergic stimulation. Since further attempts to reproduce these results with 5% FBS in the culture medium were not successful, the effect of the FBS concentration on the fatty acid composition of phospholipids from the T. cruzi epimastigote forms was thoroughly examined. This work showed that when the FBS concentration supplementing the culture medium was reduced from 10 to 5%, the fatty acid composition of the phosphoinositides was altered while the other major phospholipids were not significantly affected. The most relevant result was the decrease in the content of linoleic acid (18:2) and the increase of palmitoleic acid (16:1) in phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate. Phosphatidylinositol (PI) and phosphatidylinositol phosphate also exhibited similar changes in the same fatty acids. The C2 fatty acid composition of the phosphoinositides, under the same conditions, is also reported here for the first time.

Desaturation of fatty acids in Trypanosoma cruzi.

Uptake and metabolism of saturated (16:0, 18:0) and unsaturated [18:1(n-9), 18:2(n-6), 18:3(n-3)] fatty acids by cultured epimastigotes of Trypanosoma cruzi were studied. Between 17.5 and 33.5% of the total radioactivity of [1-14C]labeled fatty acids initially added to the culture medium was incorporated into the lipids of T. cruzi and mostly choline and ethanolamine phospholipids. As demonstrated by argentation thin layer chromatography, gas liquid chromatography and ozonolysis of the fatty acids synthesized, exogenous palmitic acid was elongated to stearic acid, and the latter was desaturated to oleic acid and 18:2 fatty acid. The 18:2 fatty acid was tentatively identified as linoleic acid with the first bond in the delta 9 position and the second bond toward the terminal methyl end. Exogenous stearic acid was also desaturated to oleic and 18:2 fatty acid, while oleic acid was only converted into 18:2. All of the saturated and unsaturated fatty acids investigated were also converted to a small extent (2-4%) into polyunsaturated fatty acids. No radioactive aldehyde methyl ester fragments of less than nine carbon atoms were detected after ozonolysis of any of the fatty acids studied. These results demonstrate the existence of delta 9 and either delta 12 or delta 15 desaturases, or both, in T. cruzi and suggest that delta 6 desaturase or other desaturases of the animal type are likely absent in cultured forms of this organism.