Lipid transport in microorganisms.

Microorganisms are useful model systems for the study of intracellular transport of lipids. Eukaryotic microorganisms, such as the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, are similar to higher eukaryotes with respect to organelle structure and membrane assembly. Experiments in vivo showed that transport of phosphatidylcholine between yeast microsomes and mitochondria is energy independent; transfer of phosphatidylinositol to the plasma membrane and the flux of secretory vesicles take place by different mechanisms. Linkage of transfer and biosynthesis of phospholipids was demonstrated in the case of intramitochondrial phospholipid transfer. A yeast phosphatidylinositol/phosphatidylcholine transfer protein, which is essential for cell viability, was isolated and characterized. Another phospholipid transfer protein present in yeast cytosol, which has a different specificity, is currently under investigation. Transfer of phospholipids between cellular membranes was also demonstrated with prokaryotes. The cytoplasm and the periplasma of the gram-negative facultative photosynthetic bacterium Rhodopseudomonas sphaeroides contain phospholipid transfer proteins; these seem to be involved in the biosynthesis of prokaryotic membranes.