Review Article

The Phospholipid Profile of Mycoplasmas

Table 2

The incorporation of radiolabelled fatty acids into the major phospholipids of M. hyorhinis.

Tentative identification Lipid phosphorusRadioactivity (% of total)
šœ‡ g/mg protein% of total[ 3 H ]-palmitate[ 3 H ]-oleate

SPM 6 . 6 Ā± 1 . 5 3 3 . 5 Ā± 6 . 7 1 . 0 Ā± 0 . 5 0 . 0 Ā± 0 . 0
PC 2 . 4 Ā± 0 . 5 1 2 . 6 Ā± 2 . 0 4 0 . 0 Ā± 3 . 5 1 9 . 0 Ā± 2 . 8
PG 2 . 4 Ā± 0 . 6 1 2 . 4 Ā± 3 . 1 1 2 . 4 Ā± 1 . 1 2 0 . 7 Ā± 5 . 8
CL 8 . 4 Ā± 1 . 3 4 1 . 5 Ā± 6 . 4 4 6 . 6 Ā± 4 . 4 6 0 . 0 Ā± 8 . 8

M. hyorhinis cells were grown in the presence of either [3H]-palmitate or [3H]-oleate. Lipids were extracted by the method of Bligh and Dyer [18] and separated by TLC on silica gel plates (Kiesel-gel 60 HR, Merck, Darmstadt, Germany) developed at room temperature by a two-dimensional system described above. The lipid spots were scraped off the plates and analyzed for radioactivity. To determine phosphorus in the phospholipid spots, the method of Zhou and Arthur [20] was used. The results are the average of three independent experiments using different batches of cells. SPM: sphingomyelin; PC: phosphatidylcholine; PG: phosphatidylglycerol; CL: cardiolipin.