Glucosyl diglyceride lipid structures in Deinococcus radiodurans.

The structures of two lipids from the radiation-resistant bacterium Deinococcus radiodurans are reported here: 1,2-diacyl-3-alpha-glucopyranosyl-glycerol and 3-O-[6'-O-(1",2"-diacyl- 3"-phosphoglycerol)-alpha-glucopyranosyl]-1,2-diacylglycerol. These lipids are strikingly different from previously characterized polar lipids from this organism, in that they are not unique to the genus Deinococcus and indeed have counterparts in both gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria. Moreover, as examples of glucose-containing lipids, they further illustrate the diversity of carbohydrate-containing lipids in D. radiodurans, from which lipids containing galactose and N-acetylglucosamine have already been structurally characterized.