Relation between growth temperature of E. coli and phase transition temperatures of its cytoplasmic and outer membranes.

Cells of wild-type E. coli B were grown at 17, 27 and 38 degrees C, and their cell membranes were fractionated into the cytoplasmic and the outer membranes. Chemical assay proved that the molar ratio of saturated to unsaturated fatty acids increases in phospholipids extracted from each membrane as the growth temperature increases. The transition temperature at which the solid phase disappears was determined by X-ray diffraction in these biomembranes and also membranes of extracted phospholipids and of extracted lipopolysaccharide. The transition temperatures of the cytoplasmic membrane and of the membranes of phospholipids extracted from the cytoplasmic and the outer membranes increased with the growth temperature in good parallelism to the molar ratio of saturated to unsaturated fatty acids. The transition temperature of the outer membrane was less sensitive to the growth temperature, presumably due to the presence of lipopolysaccharide. The transition temperature of the membranes of lipopolysaccharide extracted from the outer membrane was 25 degrees C, for the cells grown at 27 and 37 degrees C. For the cells grown at 17 degrees C, the extracted lipopolysaccharide gave a broad diffraction peak and did not exhibit a solid-fluid phase transition between --5 and 40 degrees C.