Effect of substrate on the fatty acid composition of hydrocabon-utilizing microorganisms.

The fatty acid pattern in three hydrocarbon-utilizing bacteria during growth on various substrates was examined. The predominant fatty acids in acetate-grown cells were C(16), C(16:1), C(18:1), and Br-C(19) and the major fatty acids in propane-grown cells were C(15), C(17), C(17:1), C(18:1), and Br-C(18). When one organism (Mycobacterium sp. strain OFS) was grown on the n-alkanes from C(13) to C(17), the major fatty acid in the cells was of the same chain length as the substrate. Studies on the incorporation of acetate into the cellular fatty acids of microorganisms growing on C(15) and C(17)n-alkanes suggest that the oxidative products of the substrate are incorporated into the cellular fatty acids without degradation to acetate.