Coupled TLC and MALDI-TOF/MS Analyses of the Lipid Extract of the Hyperthermophilic Archaeon Pyrococcus furiosus

Figure 2

MALDI-TOF/MS lipid profiles of the total lipid extract of Pyrococcus furiosus (DSM3638) acquired in the negative ion mode using 9-aminoacridine as the matrix. The lipid components assigned to the main m/z ion peaks are unsaturated diphytanylglycerol analogue of phosphatidylinositol (unsPI), [M-H]⁻ at m/z 881.8; diphytanylglycerol analogue of phosphatidylinositol (PI), [M-H]⁻ at m/z 893.8; N-acetylglucosamine-diphytanylglycerol phosphate (N-acetyl-hexose-P-D) [M-H]⁻ at m/z 934.8; diglycosyl-diphytanylglycerol (DGD) [M-H]⁻ at m/z 976.2. The ion peak [M-H]⁻ at m/z 1784.6 is attributable to a caldarchaeol lipid, with its sodium and potassium adducts at m/z 1807.0 and 1823.1, respectively. The detailed list of detected ion peaks is shown in Table 1. Inset: MALDI-TOF/MS lipid analyses in intact mode (as described in ref. [26]) of the residual pellet after the lipid extraction.