Effects of solvents and alcohols on the polar lipid composition of Clostridium butyricum under conditions of controlled lipid chain composition.

Clostridium butyricum has been grown in media devoid of biotin, to which long-chain fatty acids have been added to promote growth. We have shown previously that, under these conditions, exogenous fatty acids are extensively incorporated into the cellular phospholipids. Cells grown with elaidic acid, trans-9-18:1, have normal ratios of the glycerol acetal of plasmenylethanolamine (GAPlaE) to phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) plus plasmenylethanolamine (PlaE) compared with cells grown with biotin. When ethanol, cyclohexane, or n-octanol was added to elaidate-containing media, the ratio of GAPlaE to PE plus PlaE was significantly increased. Addition of dodecane and n-butanol did not affect this ratio. When cells were grown with oleic acid in the absence of biotin, the GAPlaE to PE plus PlaE ratio was increased 5.4-fold compared with elaidate-grown cells. In oleate-supplemented media, the addition of solvents or n-alcohols produced no further increase in this ratio. We conclude that these changes in lipid composition represent cellular responses to perturbation of the equilibria between the lamellar and nonlamellar liquid crystalline phases in the cell membrane.