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. 1972 Dec;112(3):1396–1407. doi: 10.1128/jb.112.3.1396-1407.1972

Turnover of Phospholipids in an Unsaturated Fatty Acid Auxotroph of Escherichia coli

Peter D Crowfoot 1, Tetsuo Oka 1, Mojtaba Esfahani 1, Salih J Wakil 1
PMCID: PMC251577  PMID: 4629658

Abstract

The membrane phospholipids of an unsaturated fatty acid auxotroph of Escherichia coli were found to undergo turnover. These phospholipids were excreted into the culture medium, and were replaced in the cell with newly synthesized phospholipids. Phospholipids of growing cells supplemented with elaidic acid underwent rapid turnover, while those of cells supplemented with oleate, or cis-vaccenate plus palmitoleate, underwent slow turnover. Starvation for required amino acids stimulated this turnover in the latter two cases. Protein was also lost from growing cells. However, after amino acid starvation this loss ceased while phospholipid turnover continued. Electron micrographs of growing cells indicated that large pieces of membrane-like material were separating from the cell surface.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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