MOLECULAR-SPECIES COMPOSITION OF PHOSPHATIDYLCHOLINE FROM CRYPTHECODINIUM-COHNII IN RELATION TO GROWTH TEMPERATURE

The molecular species composition was determined for phosphatidylcholine (PC) isolated from the marine dinoflagellate Crypthecodinium cohnii grown at three different temperatures. At all three temperatures the didocosahexaenoyl species comprised about 25% of the PC with 14:0/22:6 and 16:0/22:6 also being of major importance; these three species comprised 75-82% of the total. Another 20 species were identified, including several short chain disaturated species. Only small differences in the composition of PC were found in response to growth at 16, 23 and 27°C. On dropping the growth temperature from 27°C to 16°C the largest changes were a decrease of 8.9% in saturated/saturated species and an increase of 5.3% in saturated/PUFA species; the 22:6/22:6 content only increased slightly (by 1.9% to 25.4%). This unusual molecular species composition is discussed. © 1990 American Oil Chemists' Society.