Comparison of phospholipid composition of Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus cells obtained from logarithmic and stationary phases of growth.

Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus cells were grown in tissue culture and harvested at logarithmic and stationary phases of development. The phospholipids were extracted, separated into lipid classes, and fatty acid composition of each fraction determined. The phosphatidylethanolamine fraction was the major lipid (42-54%). With aging, the A. aegypti cells showed an increase in polyenes in the phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylethanolamine fractions and in monoenes and polyenes in the phosphatidylinositol fraction. The lysophosphatidylcholine fraction had an increase in chain length of the fatty acids with aging of the A. aegypti cells. The A. albopictus cells, with aging, showed increases in chain length and in the relative percentage of polyenes in the lysophosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylcholine, and phosphatidylserine fractions. In the phosphatidylinositol fraction, chain elongation of fatty acids occurred as the cells aged. In the ceramide phosphorylcholine fraction, there were increases in saturation and chain elongation of the fatty acids from the logarithmic to the stationary phase of the A. albopictus cells. An increase in polyenes was observed with aging of the cells in the phosphatidylethanolamine fraction.