LIPIDS IN CRYPTOMONAS CR-1 .1. OCCURRENCE OF BETAINE LIPIDS

Polar lipids of the cryptophyte Cryptomonas CR-1 were analyzed in detail. In addition to glycolipids and phospholipids, three Dragendorff-positive lipids were found. Two of these lipids were identified as diacylglyceryltrimethylhomoserine (DGTS) and diacylglycerylhydroxymethyltrimethyl-beta-alanine (DGTA), a recently discovered isomer of DGTS, while the least abundant lipid remains to be identified. The presence of both DGTS and DGTA, which have been widely found in green algae and brown algae, respectively, is an unusual characteristic of Cryptomonas CR-1, a characteristic shared to date by only one other alga, namely, Ochromonas danica. Each class of polar lipids was made up of a different set of combinations of fatty acids. All of the data from the analysis of lipids and fatty acids point to uniqueness of the cryptophyte among algae.