Randomization of membrane lipids in relation to transport system assembly in Escherichia coli.

The distribution of newly synthesized lipid molecules in the pre-existing lipid phase of the membrane was studied in whole cells of the fatty acid requiring Escheria coli strain K1062. The fluorescence probe N-phenyl-1-naphthylamine revealed reversible lipid phase transitions in cells supplemented with cis-delta9-octadecenoate (transition temperature Tt = 14 degrees C; width of the transition deltaT = 13 degrees C) or trans-delta9-hexadecenoate (Tt = 27 degrees C; deltaT = 7 degrees C). Cells were first grown in the presence of cis-delta9-octadecenoate at 37 degrees C and subsequently for various periods in the presence of trans-delta9-hexadecenoate at 37 or 22 degrees C, i.e. above or below the transition of the newly formed lipids. Reproducible phase transitions with single, well-defined Tt values between 14 and 27 degrees C were observed under both conditions. Beta-Galactoside transport induced in a similar experiment before or during a change in the fatty acid composition showed a single change in activation energy at a temperature close to the lipid transition temperature, Tt. Starvation of cis-delta9-octadecenoate-supplemented cells for this fatty acid led to a gradual rise in the transition temperature, due to an increase in the percentage of saturated acyl chains in the membrane lipids. It is concluded that under all conditions investigated a mixed lipid phase composed of newly synthesized and pre-existing lipid molecules is formed in the membrane. Since conserved domains of newly synthesized lipids surrounding simultaneously formed transport proteins could not be demonstrated, the results do not support a membrane assembly mechanism proposed by N. Tsukagoshi and C. F. Fox [(1973), Biochemistry 12, 2822-2829]. It rather appears that newly formed lipid molecules are continuously released from their sites of synthesis into the lipid matrix by a rapid diffusion-controlled process.