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. 1979 Jun;24(3):713–719. doi: 10.1128/iai.24.3.713-719.1979

Unique lipid composition of Treponema pallidum (Nichols virulent strain).

H M Matthews, T K Yang, H M Jenkin
PMCID: PMC414365  PMID: 381199

Abstract

The lipid composition of Treponema pallidum (Nichols virulent strain) was determined after purification of the organisms from the infected testes of corticosteroid-treated rabbits by differential centrifugation, filtration through Nuclepore membranes, and sedimentation in Hypaque density gradients. The total lipids were comprised of 32.2% neutral lipids, mainly cholesterol, and 67.8% phospholipids consisting of phosphatidylcholine (32.1%), sphingomyelin (14.8%), cardiolipin (13.0%), phosphatidylethanolamine (6.2%), phosphatidylinositol-serine (1.2%), and lysophosphatidylcholine (0.4%). Monoglycosyldiglyceride, a glycolipid comprising 25 to 50% of thetotal lipid of all Treponema previously examined, was not detected. The fatty acid composition was similar but quntitatively distinct from that of the infected testes tissue.

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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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