Endotoxin structures in the psychrophiles Psychromonas marina and Psychrobacter cryohalolentis contain distinctive acyl features

Mar Drugs. 2014 Jul 9;12(7):4126-47. doi: 10.3390/md12074126.

Abstract

Lipid A is the essential component of endotoxin (Gram-negative lipopolysaccharide), a potent immunostimulatory compound. As the outer surface of the outer membrane, the details of lipid A structure are crucial not only to bacterial pathogenesis but also to membrane integrity. This work characterizes the structure of lipid A in two psychrophiles, Psychromonas marina and Psychrobacter cryohalolentis, and also two mesophiles to which they are related using MALDI-TOF MS and fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) GC-MS. P. marina lipid A is strikingly similar to that of Escherichia coli in organization and total acyl size, but incorporates an unusual doubly unsaturated tetradecadienoyl acyl residue. P. cryohalolentis also shows structural organization similar to a closely related mesophile, Acinetobacter baumannii, however it has generally shorter acyl constituents and shows many acyl variants differing by single methylene (-CH2-) units, a characteristic it shares with the one previously reported psychrotolerant lipid A structure. This work is the first detailed structural characterization of lipid A from an obligate psychrophile and the second from a psychrotolerant species. It reveals distinctive structural features of psychrophilic lipid A in comparison to that of related mesophiles which suggest constitutive adaptations to maintain outer membrane fluidity in cold environments.

Publication types

  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Escherichia coli / chemistry
  • Gammaproteobacteria / chemistry*
  • Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry
  • Lipid A / chemistry*
  • Psychrobacter / chemistry*
  • Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization

Substances

  • Lipid A