Distribution of diacylglycerotrimethylhomoserine and phosphatidylcholine in mushrooms

Fifty-eight species of mushrooms from different orders of Basidiomycetes were examined by HPTLC for the presence of 1,2-diacylglycero-O-4'-(N,N,N,-trimethyl)homoserine(DGTS) and phosphatidylcholine (PC). It was found that DGTS was one of the main polar lipids in all species investigated from the orders Boletales and Hygrophorales. This lipid was detected as a minor component in a few species from Aphyllophorales and the family Tricholomataceae. The presence of DGTS does not depend on the stage of the development of fruit bodies and place of collection of these mushrooms. Phosphatidylcholine was the major phospholipid in all species investigated except for Leccinum scabrum, L. variocolar and Hygrophorus hypothejus in which this lipid was virtually absent. Possible biosynthetic mechanisms resulting in absence of PC are discussed. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.