Gas chromatographic mass spectrometric identification of betaine lipids in Chroomonas salina

The betaine lipids diacylglycerylhydroxymethyltrimethyl-beta-alanine (DGTA) and diacylglyceryltrimethylhomoserine (DGTS) can be identified by derivatization of their polar groups. Demethylation, deacylation and silylation of DGTS yields demethyl-deacyl-DGTS-TMSi; dihydro deamino-deacyl-DGTA-TMSi is produced by deamination, hydrogenation, deacylation and silylation of DGTA. The characterization of the derivatives by GC-MS was used as a diagnostic method for the identification of DGTA in Chroomonas salina, where this lipid accounts for 20% of the total polar lipids. Major fatty acids of DGTA (%) are 22:6n-3 (22), 20:5n-3 (14), 18:1n-7 (12), 18:4n-3 (11), 16:6(8) and 14:0 (8), indicating that this lipid contains a broad variety of different molecular species in this alga.